Whanganui tops first-home affordability ratings123RF Struggling to buy a first home? By comparison, servicing a first-home mortgage on the North Shore would take almost 49 per cent of pay. In Pukekohe, mortgage repayments purchased on a lower-quartile priced house at $491,500 would take up about a third of a first-home buying couple's pay. In Whanganui, mortgage payments on a lower quartile-priced home take up just 8.1 per cent of a typical first-home buying couple's pay, followed by Invercargill at 10.6 per cent and Gisborne at 11.7 per cent. It says housing is "affordable" when mortgage payments take no more than 40 per cent of take-home pay.

Source: Stuff June 29, 2016 05:15 UTC