WELLINGTON, Dec. 3 -- New Zealand should follow Australia in cracking down on overseas speculators who are driving up home prices and contributing to the country's housing crisis, New Zealand's Opposition leader said Wednesday.

The New Zealand dream of home ownership should not be a " speculator's plaything," Labor Party leader Andrew Little said in a statement.

"Australia already has a ban on foreign home buyers, but a new report by the Australian Parliament recommended establishing a register that records the citizenship and residence of home buyers as well as tougher penalties for avoidance," Little said.

"Australia is doing what it can to keep the dreams of first home buyers alive. That is a huge contrast to here in New Zealand where the government refuses to acknowledge there is a problem and won't even collect the data on foreign home sales," Little said.

Little said that foreign buyers could buy a house in New Zealand if they wanted to live there.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has warned soaring house prices in the two biggest cities of Auckland and Christchurch pose a risk to the country's financial stability.

Mortgage lending restrictions introduced by the RBNZ in October last year to curb demand were hitting first-home buyers hardest, said Little.

"The average house in Auckland earned more money last year than the average worker. That's ridiculous," he said.

But Prime Minister John Key told Radio New Zealand that the government's big focus was on increasing the supply of affordable housing rather than a home ownership register.

"I think the register -- it's always fraught with dangers -- I mean, you could potentially do it but, for instance, what happens when you have partial ownership, owned through another structure -- how do you keep it up to date? There's lots of pitfalls," Key said.

Key said figures kept by Inland Revenue showed there had been no dramatic increase in foreign buyers.

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