Home affordability in Hawke's Bay is the best it's been in seven years thanks to lower house prices and interest rates, the latest Roost Home Loan Affordability report says.
It said median-priced housing was affordable for families in Hawke's Bay/Gisborne, when both adults were working. Based on a household profile of
one adult working full-time, one adult working half-time and one child aged five years, it took 28.6 per cent of the median take-home pay to service a mortgage of a median home purchased in April.
The report said for Hawke's Bay/Gisborne the median house price was $271,500 in April, up from $260,000 in March. The median house price was $275,500 in April 2010 which put annual growth at -1.5 per cent.
The median weekly take-home pay for a typical buyer was $698.87 in April, up 7.5 per cent from $650.18 in April 2010.
October 1 tax cuts last year improved home loan affordability by more than 2 per cent, the report said.
Weekly disposable income was $383.30 in April, which was $94.90 higher than $288.40 in April 2010 (and compares with $394.95 one month earlier). A typical buyers' income was too low by itself to cover mortgage payments on a median-priced home.
Interest rates had fallen since last month and were lower than one year ago. The average bank interest rate for a floating mortgage rate was 5.77 per cent for April, less than the 5.86 per cent 12 months earlier.
Banks' softening attitudes also helped, said Rhonda Maxwell, Roost Home Loans spokeswoman.
"Banks are eager to lend and are able on occasion to go the extra step to make a loan happen," she said.
