Petition to raise house price cap

PETITIONER: Sarah Curtis has launched an online petition. Picture supplied

The Government is being petitioned to change its stance and increase the house price cap for Gisborne first-time home buyers to access its First Home Loan Scheme.

The scheme allows qualifying people to take out loans for properties up to a certain price with just a 5 percent deposit. Earlier this year, the government raised the price cap for eligible properties in selected areas of New Zealand but Gisborne and several regions were left out of the changes.

The house price cap for First Start home loans for Gisborne is $400,000 for existing houses and $500,000 for new builds.

However, latest data from The Real Estate Institute (REINZ) shows 90 percent of houses sold in Gisborne are in excess of $400,000 (the threshold for existing properties) and 75.6 percent sold in excess of $500,000 (the threshold for new build properties),

Despite calls from the Real Estate Institute for an urgent review, the Government confirmed last month that there were no plans to change the proposals, which came into effect on April 1.

REINZ said that decision was “disappointing”.

An online petition has now been launched, asking that the House of Representatives pass legislation to remove the house price caps from the criteria to access the first home grant, and remove the requirement to have a signed build contract in order to access the first-home grant for a new build.

The petition, launched by Kerikeri-based Sarah Curtis Mortgages has so far gained more than 700 signatures.

“We have a few clients who are based in Gisborne and are working with them currently to help them buy their first homes. They are facing much the same struggles as we see in most of regional New Zealand,” Mrs Curtis said.

“I started the petition on the day that the most recent Government announcements were made with regards to housing. Once again, I felt that Northland and “the rest of New Zealand” (as per the FHB Grant criteria) had been left out and it was more headlines without substance or action that would actually help.

“That night, I put together the petition after a day of speaking to our first-home- buyer clients all over New Zealand who felt just as let down by the announcement and felt at a loss as to what to do next.

“We have had a lot of wonderful comments of support from the regions for the petition, although getting the word out has been tough. Although we are well known in Northland and have the support of our community, the referrals we get to help people in other regions come from people who have generally dealt with us in Northland.

“We would truly appreciate any support to help the petition get more signatures as we really feel that this is a conversation that needs to happen for regional New Zealand.”

The petition can be found and closes on June 1.