- Property experts have called for first-home buyers to be exempt from tight borrowing restrictions, saying more than 1 million Kiwis have been locked out of owning a home.
Property Institute of New Zealand chief executive Ashley Church said the main barrier preventing roughly a quarter of New Zealanders from living in their own home wasn’t affordability, but loan-to-value (LVR) restrictions.
“That means that a generation of Kiwis can say goodbye to a first home because of an artificial barrier, created by the Reserve Bank.”
The restrictions were designed to prevent banks from taking on too much risk and to take some heat out of the housing market.
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David Unwin/Fairfax NZ. The minimum deposit for an average Palmerston North house is $65,000.
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