Nurses, teachers and other middle class professionals are increasingly unable to buy homes in the cities where they work, with every housing market in the country now rated "severely unaffordable".
One bank is even telling nurses in Wellington to leave the profession if they want to afford a mortgage.
The 16th annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey released today has revealed it costs seven times the median wage to buy a house in New Zealand - up from six and a half times the median wage the previous year.
Wellington nurse Katrina Hopkinson told RNZ reporter Ruth Hill that her colleagues are being locked out of the housing market.
