Avant's website for its new Wirihana housing estate in South Auckland carries these images of finished places. Photo / Wirihana
Avant's website for its new Wirihana housing estate in South Auckland carries these images of finished places. Photo / Wirihana
Cash, a new car, three years of guaranteed rent, free furniture or a low-interest loan are being offered as incentives to buyers of new homes at the $210 million Wirihana estate in south Auckland.
Developer Avant Group headed by Mat Peters is offering incentives to buyers of 416new homes being developed in the estate.
The first 70 homes are completed.
On its $640,000 homes, Avant is offering one of the following to help buyers:
$25,000 cashback, applied as a discount on the settlement statement;
$25,000 furniture/whiteware voucher;
2024 Kia Stonic SX valued at $27,240;
1.95% interest rate for one year;
Rental guarantee for three years (at $650/week paid fortnightly).
Peters said Avant was building on Ministry of Housing and Urban Development land. Because most buyers were first-time homeowners, they were taking the low interest rate of 1.95%, he said, instead of the car, furniture, rent guarantee or cash.
Wirihana’s website says: “Secure a limited-time 1.95% interest rate for one year and save over $25,000.” It refers to only a 5% deposit being needed, saying that is “unlike many other new housing developments”.
A sales hub is at 10 Kerrs Rd, Wiri, and KiwiBuild homes are also being offered.
Ray White agent Lawrence Kenyon-Slade cited a new home being advertised at 58 Te Tihi St as an example of a home for sale carrying the incentive package.
58 Te Tihi St, Wirihana, is being advertised for sale with Ray White. It comes with an incentive package to make it easier to buy. Photo / Ray White
An Avant spokeswoman said the business was frustrated by a market that inhibited its target demographic, “therefore we use as many tools as possible to enable this demographic to buy. We are all too aware that when the market takes off, first-home buyers will get locked out as interest rates come down and house prices start their inevitable climb”.
Avant had focused mainly on offering a subsidised interest rate “to give certainty when rates have been volatile or too high until such time as rates normalise once inflation is under control”.
Last year, it offered a cut-price 3.95% interest rate “and had great success with these enabling purchasers to buy a home and have peace of mind that their interest rate was going to be subsidised by the developer via Squirrel, which distributes the interest subsidy to the purchasers’ bank account each month for two years to assist with their cashflow until the interest rates reduced. In June this year we introduced the 1.95% subsidy for one year”.
Based on the agents’ suggestion, Avant added alternatives to the interest rate subsidy in the form of cashback or a car.
“Each initiative costs the same to the project, but the rationale is to remove common barriers for potential purchasers,” the spokeswoman said.
Some first-home buyers needed good transport to get to work, meaning they borrowed to buy a vehicle.
“Providing a car as part of their purchase offsets this. Cashback rationale was to liberate those who already have vehicle debt, or other debt, to enable people to get a mortgage. The interest subsidy has assisted 53 purchasers,” the spokeswoman said.
Wirihana is an 11ha masterplanned scheme where homes were designed by Crosson Architects and Isthmus.
