New research this morning is painting a dispiriting picture of housing affordability in Auckland.

The annual Demographia Survey has compared prices to incomes in 367 cities around the world, and shows Auckland jumping from the ninth to fifth most expensive city in just a year, due to rising real estate prices and moderate wage growth.

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Auckland is now ahead of Melbourne, Santa Cruz, Bournemouth and Dorset, San Francisco, and Tweed Heads.

But it remains behind San Jose, Vancouver and Sydney, and well behind Hong Kong.

There, Demographia says it would take 19 average salaries to buy an average home.

New Zealand First leader and Northland MP Winston Peters pointed out a hard truth about house prices in Auckland during Ratana commemorations this weekend.

"We could talk about Auckland housing prices rising so fast that there's only one man who can save enough money to keep up with it," he joked.

"You take a wild guess but it's not me."

Christchurch came in at 51st, with a median house price of $388,000 - six times the average annual income of $64,000.

It's the third most unaffordable area in the country, behind Tauranga and Auckland.