Couple's home bought with help of friends

Aaron and Gayoung Wiggins can't believe they managed to buy their first home for a fraction of the cost of Tauranga's average home value. Photo / George Novak

A Bay couple has managed to buy a house in Te Puke for almost half the average value of a home in Tauranga.

Aaron and Gayoung Wiggins bought their first home in Te Puke in the Western Bay last month for $310,000 and have been thankful for the bargain every day since.

This was reaffirmed yesterday when the latest figures for QV were released, revealing the average home value for a Tauranga home was now just shy of $600,000 ($599,915).

In the Western Bay of Plenty the average home value was now $526,756.

"We managed to get it very cheap through a friend. We got a very good price for it," Mr Wiggins said.

The couple had been looking for a house for about a year and knew how hard it was for so many first-home buyers in the region.

"We are just really relieved and thankful we were helped out by a friend," he said.

Mr Wiggins said they were also grateful they had already been banking with ASB Bank, which was the only bank to offer them a 10 per cent deposit.

"We just tried our best and managed to get it at the right time."

Mr Wiggins said the savings they had managed to accrue were now helping go towards renovating the house.

The couple had already stripped the walls and ripped out the old carpet.

"It's a lot of hard work but we're happy," Mr Wiggins said.