PHOTO: 123rf – Unaffordable prices and rising rents are making it harder for first home buyers to get a deposit together.

Property prices are slowing and the upcoming foreign buyer ban will make it worse, according to Westpac.

Bank economist Dominick Stephens is predicting a price drop in some parts of Auckland and in Queenstown when the ban comes into force within the next few weeks.

However, he said it was hard to how much of a negative effect the ban would have.

“One reasonable starting point is Toronto’s stamp duty on foreign buyers, which was so high that it functioned like a ban. Toronto house prices fell around 5 per cent soon afterward,” he said.

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