More than a third of the homes sold in April were probably bought by first home buyers.
The latest Reserve Bank (RBNZ) data shows banks approved 2858 mortgages to first home buyers in April. That was 37% of all mortgages approved for the purpose of purchasing a residential property.
That makes it likely first home buyers are currently accounting for more than one-in-three of the residential property sales being made each month.
First home buyers' market share has been steadily increasing since the beginning of last year when their share of mortgages approved for the purchase of a property hit 33%.
However, the latest figures are not a record.
That was set in April/May 2023 when first home buyers accounted for almost 39% of the mortgages approved for the purpose of buying a home.
The recent growth in first home buyers' market share corresponds to a steady increase in the number of first home borrowers taking out low equity mortgages, where they have less than a 20% deposit.
In April, 46.2% of the mortgages approved to first home buyers were low equity loans. That was down from the peak of 51.2% in January this year, but well up from 40.6% in April last year.
Ten years ago in April 2016, just 30.4% of the mortgages approved to first home buyers were low equity loans.
The average size of the mortgages approved to first home buyers with less than a 20% deposit in April was $641,181, while the average mortgage approved to buyers with at least a 20% deposit was $524,398.
The total value of all mortgages approved to first home buyers in April was $1.653 billion, up 7.1% compared to April last year.
Interest.co.nz estimates the average price first home buyers paid for a home in April was $682,000, down $10,000 (-1.4%) from $692,000 in March.
Over the 12 months to April the estimated prices paid by first home buyers have been reasonably flat, bouncing around between $673,000 and $709,000.
The peak estimated price paid by first home buyers was $718,000 in April 2022.
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