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Home Ownership Rates Drop

There was an interesting article posted on Stuff.co.nz this week. Although it was quite short and focused only on Auckland, the point it was making is quite valid.Home ownership rates are dropping, a lower percentage of people own their own homes than in the past, and that concerns us. The recent Reserve Bank changes to increase the required deposit for most borrowers to 20% is only going to further reduce the opportunities for people to get in to their first home... but all is not lost....

Time to fix?

The simple answer to this is, yes. For those of you who know me you will know that we always advocate fixed interest rates and a structured repayment plan for people earning a fixed income, which is most people. However, with an increase in the Official Cash Rate (OCR) forecast for March, which will lead to an increase in floating rates, you definitely want to be reviewing any floating lending that you have and making sure you are not facing a large increase in your monthly payments due to the i...

Options for less than 20% deposit

The deposit restrictions put in place by the Reserve Bank have been well publicised but have often lacked the detail of what options are there for potential buyers. As you will see below there are a number of options.First of all, we want to dispel the myth that it is impossible to borrow money if you have less than 20% deposit, this simply is not the case. It is much more difficult as the banks are now limited to how much they can lend to people with lower deposits. They can lend about half as ...

Interest rates increase

We have had increases in interest rates from a couple of banks this week with word that others are likely to follow shortly. The 12 month and 24 month rates have been hardest hit with increases of .55% and .70% respectively from the special rates previously offered.As we mentioned in our last newsletter, being proactive and fixing your loan ahead of rate increases is the best way to put you in control of the cost of your home loan. There are still good options available but we are likely to see ...