Original and totally romantic, this Auckland couple’s big moment unveiling the purchase of their home turned into an even bigger life moment.
Kāinga Ora has had to pause applications for its First Home Partner scheme, due to demand.
The scheme offers another way for first-home buyers to get into the property market.
First-home buyers with household income of no more than $150,000 can apply if they have a deposit of 5% of the house they want to buy.
Kāinga Ora then takes a stake of up to 25% or $200,000, whichever is lower, to reduce the amount of borrowing the buyer has to take.
The buyer then buys out the Kāinga Ora stake over time.
Nick Maling, general manager of national services at Kāinga Ora said recent changes to extend eligibility to existing homes and to increase income caps had led to a 450% surge in monthly applications for the scheme and it was now fully subscribed.
“We are currently processing the huge number of existing applications we have at different stages and will be in contact with all applicants shortly. In the meantime, we encourage all those looking to purchase a home to consider the range of other home ownership products Kāinga Ora administers, such as First Home Loans and First Home Grants.”
AIMAN AMERUL MUNER/Stuff
Demand has increased for Kāinga Ora’s first home help schemes.
The most recent data from Kāinga Ora showed a marked increase in applications for First Home Grants and First Home Loans in the June quarter.
There were 8213 grant applications, up from 6854 the previous quarter. There were 1701 First Home Loans approved, up from 1289 in the March quarter.
Mortgage adviser Jeremy Andrews said he had noticed the change.
“In my previous seven-and-a-half years as mortgage broker I’d only done two Kāinga Ora First Home Loans for clients as a last resort. But with changes to eligibility and differing benefits over the last couple of months I’ve done eight more First Home Loan or First Home Partner applications in that time.
“First Home Partner allows only having to be able to service around 80% of the purchase price which gives so much lower repayment and better interest rate options than before.”
He said there were still things buyers needed to consider and sometimes a First Home Loan or First Home Grant could be a better option.
Data shows that first-home buyers’ share of the market is at record levels.