Lower house prices and job opportunities are attracting more property buyers to the King Country.
Buying a first home has always been hard, but these days the deposit is a huge hurdle for aspiring homeowners who need many years to save one – while prices keep climbing. Recent CoreLogic data shows property values increased sharply in the first three months of this year, with the national average up by 7.2 per cent since December to $845,491 in March. Nationwide values then increased by a further 3.1 per cent over April, which took the annual rate of growth to 18.4 per cent from 16.2 per cent in March and left the average national value at $871,375.
Press Release – Century 21 New Zealand Well done to the Government on funding its housing initiatives, but for most first-home buyers Budget 2021 will make little difference, says one real estate boss. It brings to life measures the Government has already announced in recent months. However, …
Well done to the Government on funding its housing initiatives, but for most first-home buyers Budget 2021 will make little difference, says one real estate boss.
“It brings to life measures the Government has already announced in recent months. However, it does little to help young Kiwis pull together a deposit or secure a mortgage – both of which are increasingly difficult,” says Derryn Mayne, Owner of Century 21 New Zealand.
Thursday, 20 May 2021, 3:09 pm
Well done to the Government on funding its housing
initiatives, but for most first-home buyers Budget 2021 will
make little difference, says one real estate
boss.
“It brings to life measures the Government has
already announced in recent months. However, it does little
to help young Kiwis pull together a deposit or secure a
mortgage – both of which are increasingly difficult,”
says Derryn Mayne, Owner of Century 21 New
Zealand.
Her comments follow Finance Minister Grant
Robertson confirming today that Budget 2021 will help
deliver more housing supply, with a strong focus on lifting
Maori homeownership rates announced.
“Homeownership
rates for Maori have always been much lower than the rest of
Scott Hammond/Stuff
Six new one-bedroom units are being built to replace two state homes from the 1950s in Blenheim’s Stratford St.
As the national housing crisis reaches a new crescendo, demand for state homes in Marlborough keeps rising. Can public housing keep up in a market this volatile? Jennifer Eder asks Kāinga Ora’s new regional director Julia Campbell about the future of state housing in Marlborough. Classic 1950s state homes on grassy quarter acres are slowly disappearing around Blenheim, and in their place handfuls of smaller, newer homes are taking shape. Subdividing up state home sections was the quickest and easiest way to build more homes in a hurry, Housing NZ said during a 2018 announcement of 13 new houses for Marlborough.
Loan-to-value ratios (LVRs) already allow borrowers to get loans on new builds with a smaller deposit than they would need for an existing property. For a new build, first-home buyers can usually have a deposit of 10 per cent while property investors are currently required to have a deposit of 20 per cent. In contrast, first-home buyers usually need a deposit of 20 per cent to buy an existing house and investors effectively need a 40 per cent deposit already, although that’s not official until May.
Opposition leader Judith Collins says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has broken a promise by introducing a capital gains tax after the Labour Government announced a series of housing policy changes.