PHOTO: Having bought a 2-bedroom house in Hamilton in March, Simran Kaur shares how she managed to save a deposit of $56,840 by age 23. Photo credit: Supplied.
A Kiwi woman who by the age of 23 managed to scrape together a $56,000 deposit for a first home in Hamilton says it took a year of strenuous saving.
As a single person with no dependents, her situation is unique – she was able to save a lot of money in a short space of time. But she’s sharing her story to give other young people ideas on how to start – and to highlight the extent first home-buyers are having to save, to get onto the property ladder.
It comes as a shortage of property listings continues to drive up house prices despite the Government announcement tipped towards helping first home-buyers. Realestate.co.nz June figures show average asking prices were up over 20 percent on the same time last year, with 16 of 19 regions showing 14-year record highs.
Fresh out of university in her first graduate job at the onset COVID-19, Simran Kaur was focused on buying a “starter house” on her own. In March 2021, she bought a freestanding, 2-bedroom brick house in Hamilton, using her deposit of $56,842, being just over 10 percent of the purchase price of $560,000.
READ MORE VIA NEWSHUB