gzt:

Handle9: It’s taken decades to get into this situation and it’ll take decades to get out of it. The only way it doesn’t is an economic collapse [snip]

The best way out is super efficient dense apartment building.

Existing owner occupied property is likely to hold it's value to a large extent while apartments grow the housing base. Rents are likely to fall making the mom and pop type rental ownership less attractive for newcomers to the field, eventually.

Super-efficient dense apartment building is a very easy thing to say, of course. Imo NZ residential building sector is extremely inefficient for many reasons. Under-investment in related manufacturing being key.

Edit: To a large extent this density process is under way in Auckland with hopefully the proximity to transport plan enabling better design than living around the edges of a giant carpark or above one

The apartment issue is not helped by our abysmal track record at building apartments that don't leak or are later found to be non-compliant in some way, usually once no one has any recourse and in addition to that, they usually are super expensive relative to a house on its own bit of land, which makes no sense. 

It's going to take a long time for the average New Zealander to see outright apartment ownership as a risk worth taking.