Mangere hit by mortgagee sales as downturn bites

Darryl Evans says families in Mangere are being forced to sell up. Photo / Dean Purcell

A Mangere budgeting agency has seen 27 families lose their homes to mortgagee sales in the past two months as the recession appears to be biting most heavily in South Auckland.

Mangere Budgeting Service manager Darryl Evans said people were being forced to sell up after losing one or both jobs in a household.

"In the past two months, about 60 have said one or both have been made redundant in their families. That's quite high given that we are a small service in the community of Mangere.

"In the five years I have worked here, we saw two families lose their homes to mortgagee sales. In the last two months, 27 families have lost their homes," he said.

Even if every Mangere family forced to sell went to Mr Evans for help, the figures mean that Mangere, with only 1.3 per cent of New Zealand's population at the 2006 census, is accounting for about a tenth of the country's mortgagee sales.

Terralink's latest figures show 274 mortgagee sales nationally in the first two months of this year, including 127 in the Auckland region.

Mr Evans said the biggest job losses seemed to be in warehouses and hotels, but many occupations were being affected.

"We had a South African family that has ended up going back to South Africa," he said.

"They lost everything they came here with three years ago. Both partners lost their jobs - he was a storeman and she was a financial adviser."

He said the 27 families who lost their houses did not include others who were able to save their homes by negotiating with their banks with the agency's help.

Vai Harris of the Pacific Island Vaiola Budgeting Service, also based in Mangere, said her agency had helped 30 families threatened with mortgagee sales since last July, and had saved all but one house.

"With most mortgagee sales I have a meeting with the family to extend the timeframe. Refinancing is another thing we do, all depending on the circumstances. If the bank knows they are in a budget service seeking help, we can make arrangements and negotiate."

Borrowers have a right under the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 to apply to postpone payments or extend the term of a loan if they are hit by "illness, injury, loss of employment, the end of a relationship or other reasonable cause".

Mr Evans said the clause could be invoked only if a borrower had not already defaulted on a payment.