Home Buyers to Get Equity Help from Gov't

[KiwiHopeful]

It looks like MB was right. The government is stepping in to do something about home prices. I wonder if 'first-time buyer' includes those who have owned outside of NZ but never in NZ ...

The Government has confirmed plans to unveil a shared equity scheme to help people buy their first homes.

Housing Minister Chris Carter said tonight it would be a way to provide direct financial assistance to buyers faced with prices which would otherwise stop them getting into the housing market.

"You would have partial ownership and share the results of any increase in value," he said on TV3 News.

"It's a new concept for New Zealand, we're not sure how it will work, but it will only work if we make more affordable homes available."

TV3 said a pilot scheme was likely to start in Auckland next year which could involve the Government paying for a 25 per cent or 30 per cent stake in a house.

That would effectively reduce the purchase price of a $400,000 house to about $300,000.

If the house was sold, the Government would take back its percentage share.

More

[MotherBear]

Originally Posted by KiwiHopeful

I wonder if 'first-time buyer' includes those who have owned outside of NZ but never in NZ ...

Let's face it, how would they know? Or have I missed something?

[KiwiHopeful]

They would ask?

Seriously, I considered the same thing ... and would I lie if asked?

Hmm ...

[KiwiHopeful]

This is the situation in our neck of the woods:

NH Foreclosures Jump as Exotic Loans' Rates Adjust

Hundreds of New Hampshire homeowners are losing their homes to foreclosure, victims of a nationwide crisis within the "subprime" mortgage industry.

And experts say it's going to get worse before it gets better.

<snip>

ccording to Real Data Corp., which publishes The Registry Review, there were 140 foreclosures recorded in New Hampshire in March alone, more than double the 67 recorded the previous March.

It's a disturbing trend. There were 157 foreclosures in January of this year (compared to 79 the previous January), and 130 in February (up from 41), according to Real Data Corp.

And the Mortgage Bankers Association recently reported that while subprime adjustable loans made up only about 8 percent of the mortgages written in New Hampshire in the last quarter of 2006, they represented nearly 60 percent of the foreclosures in that same period.

<more>

We've been meeting with realtors this past week, and they seem to think this is actually not a bad thing for us. Because the lending market has tightened up, more affordable houses like ours are selling better because people have to be more modest in their homebuying than they needed to be a year ago. :fingerscrossed: