– Ultra-cheap home loans are gone – how much mortgage pain lies ahead?<\/a><\/p>\nHayley McMillian bought her first home with her partner straight out of university in Dunedin at 21. It was something she believed was still five or 10 years away.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought, as a young couple, we didn\u2019t have any savings, and therefore we couldn\u2019t buy a house. But our KiwiSaver was sitting there, saving on its own.\u201d<\/p>\n
Five couples in her Dunedin friendship group have now done the same. \u201cI think it inspired a lot of our friends to ask the questions and begin looking,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Eaqub said KiwiSaver has come of age. \u201cPeople still talk about KiwiSaver as a retirement savings product, but it\u2019s maturing into something different. It has really become a whole-of-life savings scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n
Auckland recorded the most first-home KiwiSaver withdrawals, while Canterbury had the highest rate relative to the number of KiwiSaver members. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe place is just going off, and I think it\u2019s got two things going on. The economy is good, and houses are relatively affordable.\u201d <\/p>\n
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First-home buyers now account for 42% of sales, up from 25% a decade ago. Photo \/ Fiona Goodall<\/p>\n
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Economist Shamubeel Eaqub: \u201cPeople still talk about KiwiSaver as a retirement savings product, but it\u2019s maturing into something different. It has really become a whole-of-life savings scheme.\u201d Photo \/ Alyse Wright<\/p>\n
For some people, owning a home wasn\u2019t even on their radar. They\u2019ve become \u201caccidental home owners\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone might be chatting to a friend at the weekend, telling them the lease on their place is ending, and someone says why don\u2019t you buy because it\u2019s better to pay your own mortgage than someone else\u2019s, right,\u201d Loan Market mortgage adviser Michelle Isemonger said. <\/p>\n
Buying a home wasn\u2019t part of the plan for Aucklander Rafael Riberio either. <\/p>\n
\u201cI started with a crazy idea about buying a big caravan to live in, but we decided it would be too small. Then I started thinking about buying a tiny home, and we were almost there until I started to work out the numbers and realised maybe we could do it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Riberio and his partner Karoline bought their first home, a three-bedroom duplex, in the South Auckland suburb of Rosehill in June using personal savings and KiwiSaver for their deposit. <\/p>\n
Eaqub said conditions are finally lining up for first-home buyers. \u201cThey\u2019ve been waiting for a long time for house prices to become affordable. They have enough of a deposit, prices have come down, and banks are still willing to lend.\u201d <\/p>\n
McMillian is now training to be a mortgage adviser and making it her mission to get more young people on to the property ladder. <\/p>\n
She believes first-home buyers could make up an even bigger share of the market if more people understood what was possible. \u201cI couldn\u2019t scream it louder. You\u2019ll be surprised at what happens when you can put two incomes together and two KiwiSavers together,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Eaqub said first-home buyers were no longer a small group at the edge of the market. \u201cMany young Kiwis now have financial savings that help them buy a home, if they want to. It\u2019s a choice many did not have a decade ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cImmediately it is a first-home deposit. In the future, I think this is a proof case of how it will also help for retirement.\u201d<\/p>\n
McMillan said KiwiSaver changed her and her partner\u2019s lives. \u201cYou may think you\u2019re five or 10 years away, but actually you could be like me, and you could only be a weekend away.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, KiwiSaver definitely changed our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
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