Property · Building · Design
After ANZ announced a record annual profit of nearly NZ$2,300,000,000, chief executive Antonia Watson recently said 57% of the bank's mortgages were still fixed at rates below 4%.
Before this year, buying a home to live in was no easy task. Buyers generally have more requirements for their own home than for an investment property: it needs to meet, as far as possible, the needs of the whole family, both now and well into the future.
New Zealand financial information website interest.co.nz has tracked and studied housing affordability for local first-home buyers each month since 2004. Its latest mortgage affordability report shows that buying a home is now more difficult for local first-home buyers than it was three years ago.
Owning a home has long been a lifelong dream for many New Zealanders, who may spend years or even decades working to achieve it.
Yesterday, ANZ announced substantial increases in its fixed mortgage rates, effective today. Rates for terms ranging from 6 months to 5 years have risen by between 34 and 55 basis points, with its 1-year fixed rate reaching a high of 5.99%.
The latest Stats NZ figures show no sign of a slowdown in residential construction. Building consents were issued for 4547 new homes in August this year, bringing the total for the 12 months to the end of August to 50653, up 8.9% on the corresponding period a year earlier.
ASB senior economist Mark Smith recently analysed New Zealand household living costs in detail. He forecast that inflation could add around NZ$110 a week to household living expenses in the year to June 2023. Rising fixed mortgage rates would also gradually push up borrowers’ repayment costs.
In July this year, the New Zealand Herald reported that two construction companies, DDL Homes Ormiston and DDL Homes Ormiston 2020, were in liquidation and voluntary receivership, facing creditors’ claims totalling NZ$55,700,000.
A recent survey of mortgage advisers conducted in September by independent economist Tony Alexander and mortgages.co.nz suggests first-home buyers have firmly returned to the property market. In the latest survey, 47% of mortgage advisers reported seeing more first-home buyers seeking help with borrowing, compared with just 8% in August last year. Tony Alexander said this was the highest reading since he began the survey in June 2020, clearly showing that first-home buyers were returning to property markets throughout New Zealand.
Just yesterday, New Zealand Immigration Minister Michael Wood announced in a speech to business and migrant community leaders that skilled migration and parent residence would reopen in mid-November 2022!
On Wednesday 5 October, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand raised interest rates again by 0.5%, taking the OCR to 3.5%. This was the eighth increase in the current tightening cycle.
News that a young Christchurch couple, aged just 19 and 21, had bought their first home recently became an instant focus of mainstream media attention. Many people were surprised that they had secured a home so quickly, at an age when most people are only just entering the workforce. Some felt there was no need to take on the pressure of a mortgage so young, while others argued that, with New Zealand house prices rising over the long term, the earlier people enter the property market, the better. In today's YIJU article, we look at how Emily Walker, 19, and Bradyn Taylor, 21, achieved their dream of buying their first home without help from family. Their experience might even offer some inspiration to the many people currently