One of our favorite funders was sent application from a father and daughter, to refinance and top up the mortgage on a home owned by the father (and to buy out his ex-wife’s share).

The father was on WINZ and needed his daughter’s support for debt servicing to work. She was in stable employment on a good income. Both had clean credit and the daughter was moving back in to live with her father.

Our friendly lender approved the loan conditional upon the daughter becoming joint owner of the property, i.e. she benefited from the transaction too.

Do you know someone looking for a loan in a similar situation?

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As a gift from the family, the couples family  were gifting them the equity in a home by allowing the couple to purchase at a discounted price.

A deposit had not been saved and the young couple required 100% funding of the purchase price. (this was possible due to the equity in the property being gifted.)

The husband and wife were self employed and had a couple of defaults on their credit report.

Debt servicing however appeared fine based upon self-declared incomes although financials provided indicated the income declaration was reasonable.

The successful loan was approved of just over  $194,000 at 10.35% pa for a 30 year term.

Do you know anyone in a similar situation?

Let us know, we might be able to help.

Economists and analysts from the major banks all believe the OCR will be held at its current level of 2.5 percent.

Chief economist for Deutsche Bank Darren Gibbs suggests there is little scope for surprise in the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy statement and an official cash rate review.

The focus for markets will however be on the Reserve Bank’s updated economic projections, which were last published in September, and in particular, the central bank’s implied stance on monetary policy for 2010.

On the weekend I was down in the beautiful Bay of Plenty enjoying the start of summer.

As I was driving to Royal Palm Beach yesterday afternoon to drop my beautiful little boy home to his mum after a fantastic weekend I noticed that there are a lot more for sale signs out again.

I decided to take a bit of a tour around some of the areas that have traditionally favored the investment market and it seems there are more signs in these areas as well.

Could it be that news of tax reform is scaring a lot of people out of the investment market or is it just the usual Christmas rush with people taking the opportunity to list there homes when the weather is warm and everyone wants to move to the beach (It was definitely warm weather and I officially put the heaters out in the garage for the year)?

Certainly if you wanted to sell, now is a great time, as according to one article I read over the last week approximately 14,000 new houses a year were being built, but 25,000 were needed to match population growth. The means more demand than supply could be one of the reasons why prices, as seen by the Real Estate Institutes new figures, have inched up sooner than many people might have thought.

The Real Estate Institute released new figures which show that the current median price for a home in NZ is now $355,000 topping the previous peak of $352,000 which was hit in September of 2007 however these numbers could be quite short lived as funding is still very difficult for a nation that has a huge number of small businesses and self employed people.

Is it the right time to be selling? That’s up to you however I can say this, waiting to get a few extra dollars in price may actually cost you more than you think, for example, in the last year the median house price went up by 6%, according to those same figures released by the REINZ, yet many peoples mortgages are fixed at rates a lot higher than that add to this the possibility that you are buying and selling in the same market, so even if you wait for a higher price it just means the property you buy next is going to be more expensive.

He had clean credit, and good bank account conduct for the last three months with a reasonable level of deposits apparent.

He was however unable to prove income, but declared $41,000 however was unable to supply any GST returns because the business was not registered for GST (below threshold requirement).

Funding was approved using an  Asset Lend  product – with a 30 year term loan,  the rate was fixed for 1 year at 8.49% with principal and interest repayments monthly.

So even in these tough lending times there are lenders willing to look outside the square.

The Mortgage Broker with a difference.

We specialise in finding home loans for Aussies and Kiwi’s and we do this in a simple and easy way so you feel in control every step of the way.

We can help you find funding for your first home right through to the most appropriate loan for your investment property.

Drop us a line, we are friendly and approachable and more than happy to discuss your lending needs.

Login and get free admission to our members only area as well as the loan accelerator program ($500 value). The program that can help pay off your home in under ten years.

Contact Details:

09 303 3231

Website: www.loanzlimited.com

We are seeing a continuing strengthening of net migration into NZ with in excess of 9,000 more people into our beautiful country, on an annual basis, more than double a year ago, this is predominantly being driven by a sharp decline in the number of Kiwi’s jumping the ‘ditch’ which is now down to record lows not seen since 2006.

The strong net migration together with strong housing data supports the theory that the easing of interest rates has almost finished Much improved household affordability is being driven by the lower interest rates we now enjoy and the average number of days to sell a house is now down to 41 which is juts a touch over the historical average of 39 days and seasonally adjusted sales last month were over 5,700 more than 50% above the trough in November 2008.

There is clearly a stock shortage in Real Estate with a lot of people preferring to sit tight in the current climate due to concerns around employment prospects and the continuing conservative approach to lending from banks who all have liquidity concerns and are in a massive arm wrestle for term deposits.

The Reserve Bank has reiterated that it expects to keep the Official Cash Rate low right through to late 2010 and while business confidence has been restored the economy is still hampered by the strengthening of the kiwi dollar due to a continuing depressed global environment, which is undermining the rural and export sectors.

Mortgage rates continue to be influenced by contrasting forces, at one end of the scale you have continued upward pressure on long term rates (3-5 year) due to upward pressure on term deposit rates as banks scramble for term deposits. At the other end of the scale we see the message being reinforced that short term rates will be held low for at least the next 18 months.

Our current strategy still remains unchanged though, be patient and take advantage of the low 6 month or 1 year fixed rates with over 2% difference to 5 year rates.

Auckland’s largest real estate group Barfoot & Thompson said its average sale price in July fell 2.8% from June to NZ$507,384 and that its sales volume fell 9.5% with 779 properties sold over the month. (Update 1 includes ASB comment.)

“As is seasonal at this time of year, the average price edged down (from June),” Managing Director Peter Thompson said.

“It was an anticipated easing, as the market often marks time for a period before the start of spring activity,” Thompson said. “Overall, July activity can be seen as a month which emphasised that Auckland housing has found a new base. People are feeling comfortable with current prices and trends,” he said.

Sales volumes in July were their lowest since 559 in February, following a jump from 2008 lows in March, April, May and June.

The July sale price was up NZ$10,000 from the same month last year, while sales volumes rose 24%.

“More sellers are entering the market and the 1386 properties we listed for sale in July were an increase of 16.6 percent on June, and an 18.4 percent increase on July last year,” Thompson said.

“Our new listings were the highest they have been in four months, and it is yet another sign that Auckland is shaking off constraints caused by uncertainty about the economy and future prices,” he said.

“The average rent achieved remained steady at $388 a week, while the number of properties let to tenants increased by 7.5 percent to 790, on a par with that achieved in the traditional peak month of January.”

“July is often a solid month for letting properties, but this is the first time we have let the same number of properties in July as we did in January.”

Here is ASB economist Jane Turner’s take on the figures:

Barfoot and Thompson Auckland house sales (seasonally adjusted) remained reasonably steady in July, only falling 0.4% and up 23.8% on year-ago levels. This steady trend is consistent with mortgage approvals over July and suggests nationwide REINZ house sales will also remain firm. The housing market continues to hold onto its recent gains, although the level of turnover remains below average levels.

New listings (seasonally adjusted) have picked up over the past few months, up 8.2% in July following an 11% increase in June. New listings have been very weak, due to the weak housing market discouraging potential sellers. In addition, falling permanent and long-term departures may have been suppressing supply. However, potential sellers are now being tempted back in now the housing market is improving. Despite the pick up in new listings, the total number of available listings continues to decline, and starting to settle around average levels restoring the balance between supply and demand.

With the pick up in demand and the continued decline in excess supply, we anticipate that house prices are now likely to be stabilising. Median house sales prices month to month are not the best reflection of house prices, as they are affected by sales composition. QV house price index, due over this weekend, is a better gauge on house prices and is likely to show a smaller decline in house prices relative to year-ago levels.

SBS Bank raised its six month and one year mortgage rates by 10 basis points on Thursday morning. Its new six month rate is 5.6% and new one year rate is 5.7%. New Zealand one year swap rates rose by 8 bps to 3.13% on Thursday from the day before.

The lowest six month mortgage rate offered by a bank in New Zealand is currently 5.39%, offered by Westpac and HSBC, although the HSBC rate is only for mortgages above NZ$500,000. ANZ is offering a three month rate at 5.35%.

The lowest one year mortgage rate currently is 5.49%, also offered by Westpac, although ASB, ANZ and National Bank are offering 5.5%.