First-home buyers scarce on ground in the North

Photo / Thinkstock

A Bay of Islands realtor is calling on home-loan grants to be released urgently before first-home buyers are squeezed out of the Northland property market entirely.

Dennis Corbett, owner of Harcourts Kerikeri, said he had a meeting with his team of 12 salespeople on Friday to see how sales to first-time buyers were progressing.

"I asked them who was working with first-home buyers at the moment - and there wasn't one."

New data from CoreLogic report on house buyer types for the third quarter of 2014 showed 13 per cent of Northland sales went to first home buyers - less than the 17 per cent nationwide figure.

Mr Corbett estimated only 10 per cent of sales went to first-home buyers in the Bay of Islands.

Behind the problem is Northland's economy as well as loan-to-value ratio (LVR) restrictions.

"We need to make it easier for first-home buyers to get into the market.

"People need a $30,000-$40,000 deposit. I know the Government was going to make $20,000 grants for new homes and $10,000 grants for existing homes."

Mr Corbett said the grants would be "particularly beneficial to our market".

Few people are taking up second tier lending in the region, Mr Corbett said, due to a lack of awareness about the role mortgage brokers played in getting around lending restrictions imposed on banks. "I think more awareness would get people into homes."

Complicating issues for first-home buyers included positive land prices and the lower wages associated with jobs worked by young people.

Analyst Nick Goodall of CoreLogic said first-home buyers in Northland had always been less active than the national average.

"They have only dropped by about 1-2 per cent from pre-LVR speed limit levels.

"Movers, which rose to a peak of 32 per cent in the early months of 2014, have now dropped to 2012 levels."

The numbers

Northland home buyers for July-
September 2014
• Multiple property owner 43%
• Mover 24%
• First home buyer 13%
• New to market with cash 12%
• Re-entry 5%
• Other 3%

Nationwide home buyers for July-
September 2014
• Multiple property owner 41%
• Mover 24
• First home buyer 17%
• New to market with cash 10%
• Re-entry 5%
• Other 3%