New Zealand's Maoris falling off property ladder in their homeland

Home ownership rates among New Zealand's Pacific island people and the indigenous Maori population have fallen faster than the total population over the last 25 years, the government statistics agency said Thursday.

The biggest drops were in the more populous upper North Island, particularly the cities, where the fall was 25 percent or more, according to Statistics New Zealand.

In 1991, home ownership peaked nationally, with three-quarters of all people in households living in their own home.

At the time, around half of Maori and Pacific people lived in their own home, said a statement from the agency.

The falls in home-ownership rates since 1986 were greater for Maori and Pacific people than for the total population - down 34.8 percent for Pacific people and 20 percent for Maori, compared with 15.3 percent for the total population.

Between 1986 and 2013, the proportion of New Zealand's population living in dwellings not owned by the household increased from 24.8 percent to 36.3 percent of the population - a rise of 46.4 percent.

The figures were released amid a widening housing crisis in New Zealand, with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand on Thursday repeating its warning that house price inflation is a risk for the country's financial stability. Endit