Families battle for TV first home honours

Three Auckland families battle it out on the latest reality TV show.

The gloves are off for three families battling to become the newest reality TV stars - and to get on the property ownership ladder.

Fed-up parents have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to oust adult kids from under their roofs in Our First Home, which starts on February 8.

Today the Herald on Sunday reveals the contestants chosen for TV One's big-money answer to TV3 hit The Block.

In Our First Home, mums and dads have bought houses for their cash-strapped offspring and their partners. They will renovate the properties and sell them, using the profits as a deposit towards the kids' first homes. The winners pocket an additional $100,000 in prize money.

Mick Wardlaw and his wife Kathy, from Whangaparaoa, north of Auckland, had no idea their son Tim and his girlfriend Robyn Marks had entered the show.

The pair had been living at Mick and Kathy's house to save for a deposit.

"We really want to try to give them a head start on the property ladder," Kathy said. "I am excited about us working together and the potential we have to succeed."

The Gourley family, from Tauranga, feature dad Al, wife Anne, their recently-wed daughter Amy Kim and her husband Matt. Both couples were high school sweethearts.

"Matt and I had a daydream about renovating and Our First Home sounded like a dream opportunity," Amy said.

"We only got married at the start of last year and the dream of owning a home seemed so far away."

The Schreuder family from Farm Cove, East Auckland, consist of dad Tom, mum Robyn, daughter Karen and husband Jono Frankle.

Jono said he and Karen had been looking for their own home for nine months, with no joy.

"We saw this as an opportunity to learn how to DIY for our future and make some extra cash to boost our own deposit."

The houses were all bought for around $500,000 and are in the Auckland suburbs of Te Atatu South, Titirangi and Avondale.

Our First Home host Goran Paladin said he felt for young people struggling to raise cash for their first house as it was not an easy time to be cracking into the market.

"I know a lot of people desperately trying to get into their own place but don't have the means. It is not a nice feeling to be stuck on the renting treadmill."

QV data shows the average Auckland house price reached a record high of $761,858 in December.