NZMBA opposed to Kiwibank scheme

The New Zealand Mortgage Brokers Association is concerned that the current housing boom is pushing home ownership out of reach of first home-buyers.

Friday, October 17th 2003, 7:33AM

by Jenny Ruth

Association chairman Brian Berry suggests that one way to combat this would be for lenders to relax their rules on the need for would-be mortgage holders to provide evidence of saving.

Most banks currently want evidence that people have saved at least 5% of the deposit they need to buy a house.

"That’s unrealistic as property values go up and rentals go up. It’s become more difficult for people to save. There are a lot of people out there with good incomes but no deposits," Berry says.

He is opposed to the government’s scheme to help first home buyers solely through Kiwibank. "It’s something that should be made available to the whole market at the same time."

Kiwibank doesn’t currently deal with mortgage brokers, although chief executive Sam Knowles hasn’t ruled it out.

"Those in the market place who make their living from mortgages can feel aggrieved by the government assistance provided solely to Kiwibank," Berry says.

He suggests the scheme is "a thinly veiled anti-competitive attempt at ensuring Kiwibank picks up more business and therefore is more likely to achieve profitability in a timely manner."

Berry is also concerned about the number of subdivisions in the pipeline and that speculative builders buying such sections could exacerbate a future housing downturn.

Subdivisions typically take up to two years to develop and gain individual titles and annecdotal evidence suggests there are many in the pipeline. "There could be a number of subdivisions coming on stream all at the same time. A lot of the sections have been bought by builders in anticipation of demand continuing," he says.

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