PHOTO: Housing market
For the first time in years, more people in their 20s are eyeing up the housing market.
Trade Me has reported a spike in people between the ages of 18 to 29 browsing listings, putting it down to low interest rates and the temporary scrapping of the loan-to-value ratio (LVR), in the wake of Covid-19.
Home ownership has been steadily declining for the under 30s for years. But post-lockdown, that typically locked-out group are starting to look.
Trade Me said during March and April, there was a nearly 40 per cent spike in interest from the under 30s, compared to this time last year.
It was the only group to show any big change in behaviour, Trade Me head of property Nigel Jeffries said, adding it was a result of changes in lending.
“There are obviously very low interest rates, LVR changes, and there is some expectation those [house] prices will drop,” Jeffries said.
“So there will be a lower entry point for those buyers into the market.”
Jeffries said there were signs that this was genuine interest, but it was hard to tell if that would translate to sales.
“If all they do is look at images and read descriptions, you could say they are quite a passive homebuyer, but if they start creating watch-lists and playing with mortgage calculators and sending emails to agents asking questions, you would say they are a lot more qualified than the passive people,” he said.
READ MORE VIA TVNZ
