Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Tauranga homes more affordable

By Cassandra Mason
Bay of Plenty Times·
28 Aug, 2013 03:34 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Tauranga housing is becoming more affordable, despite more buyers getting back into the market, a local property valuer says.

National housing affordability improved slightly last month, the Roost home-loan affordability report has revealed.

The report measured the percentage of after-tax pay needed to service an 80 per cent mortgage on a median-priced house.

Tauranga home-loan affordability improved from 54.5 per cent in June this year to 49.7 per cent in July, compared with 57.8 per cent a year ago.

TelferYoung property valuer Paul Thomas said Tauranga house prices had remained stagnant for a while, despite increased activity: "There seems to be lots of people looking to do things, but at the moment that hasn't changed the value."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

New restrictions on high-risk home loans didn't appear to have sparked buyers into action before the October 1 deadline.

But Tauranga buyers were becoming more optimistic.

"People are a bit more confident ... and prepared to get back into the market again."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

This had not translated into higher house prices yet, he said.

REINZ figures show the median house price in Tauranga is $315,000.

Tauranga's average weekly pay cheque after tax for people aged 30-34 is $735.33 - up from $720.50 in July last year.

Nationally, housing affordability improved from 56.7 per cent in June to 55.3 per cent in July.

The median weekly pay packet for the 30-34 age bracket is $807.79, up from $793.85 a year ago.

Auckland was the toughest location for first-home buyers, where it would take 89.9 per cent of an after tax income to afford a house in South Auckland, and 101.7 per cent on the North Shore.

The cheapest place to buy a house was Wanganui, with 31.5 per cent affordability.

The national median house price fell to $385,000 last month [July] from $394,000, as banks began tightening lending criteria to comply with the Reserve Bank's new "speed limit" lending restrictions.

The announcement restricts the amount of low deposit home loans banks can issue to borrowers.

The measures do not come into force until October 1, but banks have already begun offering low interest rates to borrowers with deposits of more than 20 per cent and imposing "low equity premiums" on those with lower deposits, the Roost report said. Lending criteria was also being tightened for people with bad credit ratings.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Colleen Dennehy, of Roost Mortgage Brokers, said borrowers with more equity were now in a much stronger position to negotiate better deals.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

live
Bay of Plenty Times

Fibre outage and evacuations top of South Island, Auck Harbour Bridge hit by high winds

02 Jul 09:20 PM
Bay of Plenty TimesUpdated

Heavy rain warnings: BoP acts like 'scoop' for wild weather

02 Jul 09:19 PM
Bay of Plenty TimesUpdated

'Scary stuff': Locals on crash corner fear it will take a death to get it fixed

02 Jul 09:11 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Fibre outage and evacuations top of South Island, Auck Harbour Bridge hit by high winds
live

Fibre outage and evacuations top of South Island, Auck Harbour Bridge hit by high winds

02 Jul 09:20 PM

Rain started falling at the top of the country before dawn.

Heavy rain warnings: BoP acts like 'scoop' for wild weather

Heavy rain warnings: BoP acts like 'scoop' for wild weather

02 Jul 09:19 PM
'Scary stuff': Locals on crash corner fear it will take a death to get it fixed

'Scary stuff': Locals on crash corner fear it will take a death to get it fixed

02 Jul 09:11 PM
'Game-changer': Western BoP a step closer to Govt deal unlocking housing, jobs

'Game-changer': Western BoP a step closer to Govt deal unlocking housing, jobs

02 Jul 09:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP