Region's prices lure first-home buyers

HBT124635-05.JPG 51 Wycliffe St, Napier, sold by Cox Partners, Napier - story about property market, selling houses, house sales Photographer: Duncan Brown NEWS

The percentage of income required to service a mortgage in Wairarapa remains low and the South Wairarapa mayor says there is an increasing number of first-home buyers.

The latest Roost Home Loan affordability report indicated 36.6 per cent of a single median Wairarapa income is needed to pay for a median mortgage in the region each week, down from the high experienced nationwide in 2008, but up 3 per cent on last year.

Wairarapa's median September house price was $232,500, still far lower than the national median of $420,000.

Two income earners are needed to pay weekly mortgage costs in most parts of the country, the Roost report said.

South Wairarapa Mayor Adrienne Staples said she has noticed an upturn in first-home buyers because of the region's affordability.

However, she said what was "affordable" varied. "A house priced at $500,000 might be out of one person's bracket but could work for others.

"In South Wairarapa, we've got a very wide range of income levels, from pensions through to professionals earning considerable salary, to James Cameron, multimillionaire several times over."

Mr Cameron's Western Lake Rd property is near Featherston.

Ms Staples said she understood why people continued to live with the inaffordability of Auckland and Tauranga. "Obviously, people have to live where their employment is."

Ms Staples also agreed with Prime Minister John Key's suggestion that first-home buyers should purchase apartments.

"People need to have an acceptable lifestyle, to pay for necessities. If they're being forced to pay huge amounts out of salary for mortgage costs, then people come unstuck.

"There is sufficient affordable housing in our region but there will always be people that struggle."

Across the country, the Roost report said, "the median income for the typical buyer is not high enough to buy a median priced house, even with a 20 per cent deposit".

"However, they may find the lower-quartile priced house is affordable. It is also true that a couple/family with more than one income may find the median house price is affordable."

Nationwide, median weekly mortgage payments are up $46.85 on last year.

A floating mortgage rate of 6.72 per cent and a lower-quartile house price of $285,000 will require a weekly mortgage payment of $385.71.

The report noted the Reserve Bank raising mortgage rates "on a fairly aggressive basis, by as much as 2.5 per cent in the next cycle" and that Loan to Value Ratio (LVR) rules are penalising borrowers with low equity.

Roost advises saving about $57,500 for a first-quartile house.NZME.