House sitting and flatting: Living the home-owning dream in Auckland

Wednesday, 13 June 2018

Daniel and Miriam Taylor say they have managed to save most of their income through house sitting.

As eye-watering property prices and soaring rents send people in their twenties and thirties fleeing Auckland, others in the super city are managing to stay put.

Daniel and Miriam Taylor have been married for a year and while others moved out of the city they moved in the other direction, out of Tauranga and Hamilton and into Auckland.

They've managed to save over half of their income since they started house sitting despite Miriam, 22, being a student and Daniel, 32, being the sole income-earner.

The couple avoid paying rent by moving through house-sitting gigs organised by The Housesitting Company.

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Their decision to house hop is a way of avoiding soaring costs, as the latest Housing Affordability Measure report by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment shows a worsening affordability for first-home buyers at a national level.

Kane Ross and partner Chloe Ellen have managed to crack the $1m mark by renting out rooms in their home.

The report found the share of potential first homebuyer households in Auckland City with below-average incomes after housing costs increased from 83% in March 2016 to 84% in March 2017.

It also said the share of renter households in Auckland City with below-average incomes after housing costs decreased from 55% in March 2016 to 54% in March 2016.

To avoid the struggle, Daniel and Miriam feed pets and keep the houses of Aucklanders occupied for a few months, weeks and sometimes even a few days at a time.

Then they move on to the next place, sometimes a long commute away from where they work and study.

Daniel looks at it as a good introduction to Auckland and says he's probably jogged through every suburb in the super city.

Kane Ross, 25, and Chloe Ellen, 24, are already on the property ladder and on to their second home.

The couple bought their first home four years ago on the Te Atatu Peninsula, a three-bedroom townhouse for $580,000 when they were in their early twenties.

In special housing areas the government's definition of affordable has generally been houses worth $650,000 or more.

To make the mortgage payments they rented out two of the bedrooms to flatmates until they sold the house two years later for around $680,000.

Flatmates covered around 40 per cent of the weekly mortgage payments, Ross says.

'A lot of people I know would prefer not living with people.

'It was worthwhile because it got us into the housing market.'

Renting rooms has allowed them to crack the $1m mark with their last two property purchases, Ross says.

Home ownership plans are further off for Daniel and Miriam who say they can see themselves house sitting for a number of years.

Buying a house is still an appealing investment to them, if only because it is taxed more favourably than savings are, Daniel says.

And, Miriam adds, the pair will definitely buy a house when they decide to have children.

Ross and his partner were still renting out rooms to flatmates when they heard Chloe was pregnant.

'We were concerned whether or not the flatmates would stick around and whether we'd be able to afford the house we were in.'

The flatmates stayed, so now the couple are in one room, their child in another, while their two flatmates are in two other rooms.

'Not having your own space is worthwhile in the long-run.'