Home Loan Affordability report
For March 2019
Home Loan Affordability Reports show even though lower quartile house prices remain at near record highs, falling
interest rates have come to the rescue of first home buyers. Auckland on the cusp of being affordable for first home
buyers
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PLEASE NOTE: The new http://www.interest.co.nz/property/home-loan-affordability covering a) First home buyers (aged 25-29 yrs), as a couple, b) second rung Young family buyers (aged 30-34), as a
couple (with one partner working full time, one half time, and a 5 year old child), and c) second rung older families
(aged 35-39) are now published on our website.
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The ongoing decline in mortgage interest rates means the Auckland region is now within a hair’s breadth of being
considered affordable for first home buyers, in spite of the region’s lower quartile dwelling price sitting at a record
high.
Interest.co.nz’s latest Home Loan Affordability Reports show the average of the two year fixed mortgage rates offered by the major
banks in March was 4.02%, the lowest it has been since interest.co.nz began compiling the data in January 2002. The peak during that period was 9.64% in March 2008.
The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand’s lower quartile selling price for Auckland (the price at which 25% of sales
are below and 75% are above, representing the area of greatest interest to first home buyers) peaked at $680,000 in
March 2017, before dropping back to $640,000 in August 2017 and steadily increasing back to $680,000 in February this
year and staying at that price in March.
The ongoing decline in mortgage interest rates means the Auckland region is now within a hair’s breadth of being
considered affordable for first home buyers, in spite of the region’s lower quartile dwelling price sitting at a record
high.
Interest.co.nz’s latest Home Loan Affordability Reports show the average of the two year fixed mortgage rates offered by the major
banks in March was 4.02%, the lowest it has been since interest.co.nz began compiling the data in January 2002. The peak during that period was 9.64% in March 2008.
The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand’s lower quartile selling price for Auckland (the price at which 25% of sales
are below and 75% are above, representing the area of greatest interest to first home buyers) peaked at $680,000 in
March 2017, before dropping back to $640,000 in August 2017 and steadily increasing back to $680,000 in February this
year and staying at that price in March.
The combined effect of lower interest rates and higher take home pay means the amount of their weekly income a typical
first home buying couple would need to set aside for the mortgage payments on a lower quartile-priced home dropped from
45.95% in March 2017 to 40.07% in March this year, with payments of 40% or less considered affordable.
That means that Auckland is on the cusp of once again being considered affordable for typical first home buyers, and
large parts of the city already are.
Mortgage payments on lower quartile-priced homes would take up less than 40% of the take home pay of typical first home
buyers in Waitakere (38.08%), Manukau (38.21%), Papakura (34.76%) and Franklin (34.26%).
But typical first home buyers might still struggle to get into their own home on the North Shore, where the mortgage
payments would eat up 48.57% of their take home pay, and in Rodney (41.06%) and Auckland Central (also 41.06%).
Rest of country affordable, except Queenstown
Around the rest of the country, lower quartile dwelling prices remain well within affordable limits everywhere except
Queenstown, which is the second least affordable place in the country for first home buyers after Auckland’s North
Shore.
The most affordable region in the country is Southland where the mortgage payments on a lower quartile-priced home would
be $198.74 a week, taking up just 12.42% of a typical first home buying couple’s take home pay.
Individual Home Loan Affordability Reports are available for each region by clicking on the link below.
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ends