Christchurch teenage couple buy their first house - aged 19

Tayla Eggleton and Harrison Lester, first home buyers at 19. Photo / Supplied

Tayla Eggleton and Harrison Lester are on the property ladder at just 19 years of age.

It’s not necessarily their dream home, but it is a dream come true.

For many couples and many more singles, home ownership is just a dream with house prices and the cost of living keeping them out of reach. The first rung on the property ladder often requires the biggest step up.

The teenage couple took that step the old-fashioned way, through saving and sacrifice - and not a cent from the ‘bank of Mum and Dad’.

“There was about 60-odd grand that was all cash savings,” Lester said.

The Christchurch pair have been together for two years and have shared a modest flat in a quiet suburban street with their two cats. They work hard – Eggleton in data entry and Lester as a fire system technician.

They’ve worked long hours since they both left school at 16.

“I was just working at KFC,” Eggleton said.

“I was living in a state house and stuff like that, so I really wanted to kind of make my own way up.”

Lester was working part-time and contributing to KiwiSaver when he was 15.

“I was just putting in 10% and then any leftover money I had, I was saving for a house or a holiday or a car.”

Home, at last. The three-bedroom home and low maintenance section that Tayla and Harrison were looking for. Photo / Mike Thorpe

He credited his parents for teaching him the value of a dollar.

“I didn’t really come from money as such, so it was drilled into us at quite a young age that, you know — you’ve got to have the money there. So you don’t just spend it when you get it. I was quite thankful for that.”

Perhaps where this couple differs from others of a similar age is their willingness to go without and discipline to save.

“We both had the same sort of goal. We didn’t go to parties, we weren’t going to concerts. We didn’t have those kinds of interests,” Eggleton said.

But it was not all sacrifice.

“I mean, we still went out and had fun but we weren’t every weekend going out, you know? It wasn’t really for us,” Lester said.

‘We almost gave up’

Saving for a deposit was one thing — finding a suitable home within their needs was another.

“We were originally going to go in for 20% deposit at $500,000,” Eggleton said.

But that price bracket was in hot demand and that pushed prices up — and expectations down.

“You sort of realise you’re competing with people that have an extra 50 to 100 grand on you or are actually above their 20% deposit,” Lester said.

Weekend after weekend, month after month — the couple had carefully planned their open home route, relentless in their pursuit of their first home.

“We were going to like a good 10 to 15 open homes every weekend,” Eggleton said.

“And it was the same people at the same open homes. We were like almost following them around.”

They say they weren’t looking for a “unicorn”.

“It was pretty generic. Three bedrooms and enough sort of space, where it’s low maintenance enough that we don’t spend every weekend doing it,” Lester says.

The pair almost gave up.

According to QV, the most recent average house price in New Zealand is just over $913,000 (14% down on its 2021 peak) — while in Christchurch it is just under $770,000.

Market forces weren’t the only pressures that the prospective homeowners were battling.

“We tried to put in an offer on one, but the lady sort of just said, ‘Oh no, we’ll wait. Just wait until the deadline and we’ll bring it up then’. And then the next day it went, pre-deadline,” Lester said.

The pair felt as though their age was counting against them when dealing with real estate agents.

“We were scared that we were going to get almost taken advantage of because we’re so young. Some real estate agents would look at us like ‘Oh, you’re only here to snoop’. No, we weren’t,” Eggleton said.

They were serious buyers with a serious deposit and a seriously good history of saving. Then, after walking through their umpteenth front door, they were serious about a three-bed-one-bath brick house in Wainoni.

Sold - the moment the 19-year-olds' dream became reality. First home buyers. Photo / Supplied

“We went to the open home and then we called the real estate agent that night and said, we want to go back through, and we said we want to put an offer in,” Eggleton said.

Wainoni, in Christchurch East, has a median sales price of $527,500, according to OneRoof.co.nz. The asking price on this property was higher than that.

“The next night he calls us and we just got home from work and he’s like the owner has accepted your offer. We were so happy we were pretty much dancing around the living room.”

Finally getting confirmation their offer had been accepted was an immense relief, Lester said.

“Once we got that confirmation that the offer was accepted, it just felt like a weight lifted off our shoulders.”

By the time they’d signed on the bottom line, Eggleton and Lester had come up with a 15% deposit. Through savings and KiwiSaver they’d amassed close to $90,000.

They’d also taken their shoes off at countless front doors before they arrived at the one that would become their own.

Homeowners at 19, Tayla Eggleton and Harrison Lester finally have the keys to their own front door. Photo / Mike Thorpe

Their advice to other young couples is that it’s worth the effort.

“Be patient. You will get there, but also knuckle down. You need to find someone that you have the same goals with,” Eggleton said.

Lester believed it was important to “sort out your priorities”.

“You might have to sacrifice, you know, a few concerts or a few parties, but in the long run, it’s going to put you on the property ladder.”

The couple are proud of themselves - and so are their parents.

“They are proof that with hard work and focus you can achieve your home ownership goals in this current property market,” Tayla’s father - Nathan Eggleton told the Herald.

Tayla’s mum Jacqui described the “sheer grit and determination” the pair had shown.

Lester’s parents (Darrell and Beverley) echoed those sentiments - telling the Herald how proud they were that they’d “raised the deposit by themselves”.

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