Wanganui house prices affordable

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Wanganui remains one of the most affordable places for first home buyers.

According to the latest Roost home loan affordability report, the district's median house price makes it one of the most accessible for first home buyers.

The Roost index classifies a first home buyer as a 25 to 29-year-old with no children who buys a first quartile home, that is a home priced between the cheapest and median price band.

Across the country affordability improved in most regions as home prices eased, but the Wanganui area is still the best option for first home buyers where Roost estimates it takes less than 17 per cent of a young person's disposable income to buy a first quartile home.

Nationally, it takes 49 per cent of a single first home buyer's income to afford a first quartile priced house.

Any level over 40 per cent is considered "unaffordable". Roost's latest data has the national median house price unchanged in September at $420,000, while the average two-year fixed mortgage rate was now under 6 per cent.

First home buyer household affordability is measured by calculating the proportion of after-tax pay needed by two young median income earners to service an 80 per cent home loan on a first quartile-priced house.

Latest house price data from the Real Estate Institute has Wanganui median house prices lifted by 2.3 per cent to $175,000.

A check of the most recent Wanganui Chronicle Property Guide shows an extensive range of properties in the city for sale around that median price.

They included a three-bedroom villa in Carlton Ave, boasting open plan kitchen-dining with a double garage on a large section is offered at $165,000. Then there are several three-bedroom homes nearby for sale between $139,000-$195,000.