OPINION: On Monday 18-year-old Theo Hancock celebrated buying a house and touted the hard work it took to get there.

Hancock saved $30,000 over four years, a truly impressive feat for anyone.

But what really got him over the line was the $260,000 loan from his father, money that came from a house the family no longer needed.

JOHN BISSET/STUFF Home ownership is just a dream for a lot of people, regardless of how hard they work.

Hancock benefited from the fact that his parents were homeowners and could afford to divvy up a portion of their wealth for their motivated son.

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Just don't call them wealthy, Hancock said.

But that's the problem. While Hancock may not have been living in the lap of luxury, his parents already owning a home meant he could afford to get on the property ladder at the same time as he was given the right to vote.

He doesn't have to pay the loan back until he is 25, giving him seven years of unimpeded cashflow to allow him to buy at least one other property, he said.

I would argue that is wealthy.

Property is the largest source of wealth accumulation for New Zealanders, a Stats NZ analysis from 2018 found.

That wealth is being passed down.

Parents with houses are selling, downsizing or taking out loans against their own assets to help their children on to the property ladder.

SUPPLIED Theo Hancock bought his own house, with the help of his family. The 18-year-old has a clear plan for his future.

At a smaller scale, home-owning parents are giving children on a quest to buy a house rent free accommodation and support as they save.

And let's not delude ourselves. Particular sections of society are benefiting more than others.

The rate of home ownership has dropped to 28 per cent for Māori and 19 per cent for Pasifika, compared to 57 per cent for Pākehā, according to a 2018 report by Nina Saville-Smith and Kay Saville-Smith.

Before I get the inevitable hate mail, let me be clear.

Well done to those who have been able to buy a home and can share that wealth with their children. It is a fantastic position to be in.

But at the same time, lets be honest about how you got there and who can't do the same.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. It also takes a village to get onto the property ladder these days.

The rise in house prices has wildly outstripped the rise in incomes.

Median house prices across New Zealand increased by 8.2 per cent in October to a new record high of $607,500, according to the most recent figures released by the Real Estate Institute.

In Auckland, the median was $868,000 while in Northland the median property price was $525,000.

At the same time, incomes over the last year increased just 2 per cent, according to Stats NZ.

You have to be able to be working in stable employment with enough income to cover your expenses and to save the deposit.

NICK FEWINGS/ UNSPLASH One in six New Zealanders are living in precarious situations, where one wrong thing can tip the balance into poverty.

But one in six New Zealanders falls into the precariat, according to the authors of the 2017 book Precarity: Uncertain, insecure and unequal lives in Aotearoa New Zealand.

These are a growing class of people who lead lives of uncertainty, dependency, powerlessness, perilousness and insufficiency.

Women, young people, those with no qualifications, domestic violence victims and those on low incomes are most likely to fall within this group and it's nigh on impossible to leave, say the authors of Precarity.

So all the quantifiable benefits of owning a home — wealth, health and stability — are out of reach for a large number of people, no matter how hard they work.

So, good on those who have managed to get a home.

But let's not pretend that you got there by yourself, by purely hard work or that it is an option available to everyone.