That has reduced the amount needed for a 20% deposit from $134,000 to $119,800, while a 10% deposit has declined from $67,000 to $59,900. Mortgage payments are considered unaffordable if they chew up more than 40% of after-tax pay. If that was too hard, they could try to buy a home with a lower deposit. Which leaves typical first home buyers between a rock and a hard place. On the one side there's the rock of an increasingly unattainable deposit, and on the other there's the hard place of unaffordable mortgage payments with a low equity loan.

Source: New Zealand Herald November 25, 2023 08:55 UTC