Tom1983

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/firs...market-5511283

Yep, as of this week, the reserve bank will be announcing changes scrapping the high loan to value LVR loans for houses

What does this mean? Well instead of getting mortgages with a 5-10%, a minimum of at least 20% but I reckon more likely it'll be 30% since they're more bothered about financial stability than people getting on the property ladder

Great news if your a property investor, first time buyer - just go and do one!

Fabulous news for Christchurch's rental market.

paddy234

Of course rent will go up a bit but house price's will be forced down as they already appear way over-priced

Catchafire

Seems a narrow minded move. Home affordability (or lack thereof) is one of the big drivers of Kiwi's flocking to Australia.

paddy234

If percentage's stay low house price's would continue to rise with the market the way it is. This work's temporarily to halt the unsustainable bubble from continuing to inflate

Mark Smith

Better sell a kidney now then Tom. Although not much help in Christchurch, it might help if you end up in Rangiora; have a look at http://www.tsbbank.co.nz/loans/welcomeloan.aspx

Catchafire

How does one go about selling a kidney in NZ? Had a quick look on Trademe, but there is distinct lack of body parts on sale.

simonmarkellis

Mad Butcher's you're man...

davros1984

I think this will be the final nail in the coffin for me.

If this is how its going to be, its going to be a very long time before I/we can buy a house. With houses prices so low in comparison in the UK, its really becoming a no-brainer now.

M_and_M

Know how you feel Davros

Browner_

If other countries had done this we wouldn't have a had a global financial crisis

M_and_M

Maybe so but in limbo land between sale and buy, it leaves me up **** creek so to speak.

Chippy Giles

Erm not sure about that, it all depends on where you want to live or can get work, my in laws have been trying to buy here in the Surrey for the last year and keep getting guzumped(?spelling), while house prices have pretty much dropped like a stone up North anywhere near London has just gone up and up, they might have staggered for a bit but they've never gone down.

davros1984

After spending many hours looking at UK house prices I can definitely tell you they are cheaper. As discussed in another post, it is not my plan to move back to the South-East commuter belt or London as quality of life is somewhat shocking (why I came to NZ in the first place).

However.. as a first-time buyer, even if I really wanted to live in London (which I don't ) I know I can get a mortgage and even buy a 3-bed house within a good distance of central London for less than 250,000 GBP - and its not made of wood and it has double-glazing and some form of insulation - such luxury.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...&premiumA=true

In fact a quick search a minute ago revealed 979 properties in London with a minimum of 3-bedrooms for under 300,000 GBP. That gives choice - which is the complete opposite of Auckland where virtually everything goes to auction and sells at least 100K NZD over its CV.

To be frank - in Auckland, you can't even be picky about a house you just have to get what you can in your price range or budget, its bonkers.

I understand some pockets will be quite expensive, i.e. Surrey, but the point is as a first-time buyer, I have a reasonable change of getting a mortgage. Sounds as though your in-laws are somewhat picky about the area or the sort of house they want to live in. For instance, in Hampshire i.e. Fleet or Hook (which is close to surrey) you can get 3-bed properties for around 200K GBP.

For me though, the areas I am looking where there are plenty of jobs in what I do (ok- not as many as London, but still more than Auckland) I can be buying 3-bed properties in the 85K GBP - 150K GBP range.

People in the UK do not know how lucky they are.

TommyLuck

Davros,

I'm not sure your comparison of North Hampshire and Auckland is comparable

You still have an hour+ journey to London at a pretty steep cost of travel if you want a decent salary. Although there are a few decent salaries floating around in Basingstoke and Reading but those jobs aren't all that easy to come by on the whole.

As for the 979 London properties, I'd be keen to hear the areas these properties are so we can factor in travel and time costs again as well as astronomical insurance costs.

Tom1983

This could be the same for me

If they do this, it's seriously tempting to return to the UK

I had a look last night at jobs around the West Midlands and South Yorkshire. Rent wise, we'd be much better off there and I could still earn a decent living, as could the wife. With the sale of the house we have in London, we would have enough to get a mortgage on a decent property in one of those areas.

At the moment, we would have a decent deposit to get a good house from the sale of the house in London (using Westpacs mortgage calculator on real estate). If the reserve bank scrap this, and given the rental costs here - we'd be renting for at least another 10 years to save up. Our deposit would only get us a property around $120,000 if they request 20% - not gonna happen

The mortgage site you mentioned Mark, I think it's a requirement on a welcome home loan that you remain in that property during the mortgage terms. Something that was mentioned by the solicitor yesterday

The wife and I love this place a lot, but this could be the one that says, thanks for the wonderful experience but it's time to return home