Manawatu Property Investors' Association

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21-09-2012

Auckland 'still affordable'

Landlords.co.nz

First-home buyers can get on to the property ladder in Auckland if they adjust their expectations, says the city’s property investors association president, David Whitburn.

It comes after reports this week that more than half of the city’s inhabitants think first-time buyers should look to other centres for their first property.

A Herald survey revealed 54.3 per cent thought new buyers would need to move to other areas if they wanted to buy a home, because of the prices of properties in the country's biggest city.

The median house price in Auckland is $505,500 - more than six times the average wage in the city of $75,533.

But Whitburn said it was just a matter of looking outside the city’s most popular suburbs.

“Areas like Massey and Ranui are affordable and will only go up significantly in value in the next few years as the motorway improvements are done and Westgate triples in size. South Auckland offers a lot of opportunity under $400,000 for done up properties that many lenders offer 95% home loans for."

He said many first-home buyers could also use their KiwiSaver accounts as deposits, which gave a big helping hand on to the property ladder.

Tags: david whitburn - kiwisaver

Source: Landlords.co.nz