Relieved couple secure their first home

First-time house buyers Alyssa Longville and Callum Carter. Photo / Richard Robinson

Alyssa Longville and Callum Carter (left) are among the few who were able to buy their first home with a mortgage of more than 80 per cent of the purchase price.

The engaged couple will move into the $430,000 three bedroom weatherboard in Henderson in two weeks.

They had a pre-approved loan for a 6.6 per cent deposit with ASB, which this week said it was withdrawing outstanding approvals for borrowers with less than 20 per cent equity so it could meet the Reserve Bank's new loan-to-value ratio lending rules.

Miss Longville said the bank was almost ready to pull the offer, citing the new rules. But at the last minute it allowed a mortgage with a 10 per cent deposit.

"They were going to turn us down. We're so relieved, especially now that all the banks are tightening their lending restrictions."

Their new home, built in 1973, is on a 615sq m section and has a double garage. It had a valuation of $320,000.

The couple, both 22, featured on the front page of the Herald in July when they had been struggling to find a home within their $450,000 price range for six months.

After the story appeared, a player in Miss Longville's football team approached her and said she was about to put her house on the market, but asked if she wanted to have a look at it first.

She loved the house so the couple made an offer.

They have been living with Miss Longville's parents in Kumeu and delayed their wedding while they searched and saved for a home.