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Housing Register

The information below shows the number of applicants on the Housing Register as at 31 December 2023. The Housing Register contains applicants not currently in public housing who have been assessed as eligible and who are ready to be matched to a suitable property.

Latest results - December 2023

There were 25,389 applicants on the Housing Register as at 31 December 2023, an increase of 9.8 percent from this time last year, 31 December 2022.

Download the latest numbers for the Housing Register

The following file contains the number of applicants on the Housing Register as at 30 September 2023. The file shows breakdowns by assessed priority, household demographics, and region (Territorial Authority and local board for Auckland).

How we report ethnicity

From December 2021, we introduced a new reporting approach called ‘total response’. Making this change means we recognise all aspects of someone’s ethnicity and allows us to represent the full diversity of communities, whānau, and people in Aotearoa. This reflects our clients more accurately, aligns our approach with Statistics NZ’s reporting, and reflects best practice.

Ethnicity is about people’s identity and sense of belonging. Ethnicity measures cultural affiliation, rather than race, ancestry, nationality, or citizenship. Ethnicity is self-perceived and people can identify with more than one ethnic group. Previously, we reported ethnicity using an approach called ‘prioritised ethnicity’. Prioritised ethnicity meant that we allocated people to a single ethnic group in an order of priority. The priority previously used by MSD was Māori, Pacific Peoples, Other, and NZ European.

Confidentiality - Random Rounding

From 12 February 2021, MSD started applying a range of new confidentiality procedures to public data releases. These procedures will continue to protect client information while making more data available. To find out how we have changed the way we work with client information, please visit: