A typical first-home buyer in Auckland - a working couple in their late twenties - is likely to be spending over half their income on mortgage repayments according to a new report. 

The AMP360 Home Loan Affordability Report for March showed surging house prices in Auckland may also be stopping existing home owners from moving up the property ladder.

The report tracks the lowest 25 per cent of selling prices of homes by region, along with the median after-tax income of the typical first home buyer, a working couple aged 25 to 29 years.

It estimates this theoretical young couple's mortgage repayments on a lower-quartile priced (bottom 25 per cent) property.

For March, the report estimated the couple's weekly income to be $1540. 

A leap in Auckland's lower quartile housing price in March from $554,600 to $587,200 means weekly mortgage repayments would total $778.77, or half of the couple's total income.

Repayments totalling less than 40 per cent of their net income is considered affordable and more than 40 per cent is unaffordable.

A first home buying couple would also struggle to save a 20 per cent deposit to afford a house at that price in Auckland.

AND THE REST OF THE COUNTRY? 

Queenstown had similar affordability issues, but houses in all other regions, including Canterbury and Wellington were in reach for first home buyers.

The report also highlighted difficulties that may be faced by couples with young families wanting to move up from a lower-priced house to a median-priced one.

A young couple with one child with the father working full time and the mother part time would struggle to afford a median-priced house in Auckland as mortgage repayments would eat up 62.1 per cent of their total income.

After Auckland and Queenstown, Canterbury mortgage repayments on a median-priced home came to 37.7 per cent of the couple's income, followed by Wellington at 35.4 per cent.

The lowest mortgage repayments were found in Manawatu/Wanganui at 21.8 per cent and Southland at 18 per cent.