Andrew Dickens: First home buyers want choice - and townhouses

From today, strict loan affordability regulations are gone from the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act, henceforth known as the CCCFA. This ends the bizarre inquisitions into your personal life the banks indulged in before denying you a loan.

This is good news for first home buyers, obviously, but the people most affected were those trying to get smaller loans. The grilling you got to get that $5,000 you needed to fix a leak hopefully is over.

The loan to value ratio rules have also eased, so again, good news for the first home buyers and investors.

So how green are these green shoots in the housing market?

Well, one report says that - 'home ownership for typical first home buyers has gone from being solidly in unaffordable territory at the start of the year to just marginally unaffordable in June'. Happy days- but still tough.

Meanwhile, it turns out that first home buyers are increasingly buying townhouses.

Townhouses made up just 6 percent of all new dwelling consents in 2012, now they account for 45 percent.

And they are the obvious solution. Most of England is made up of terraced houses and townhouses, and so are most inner suburbs in Australia.

They're grander than apartments. You're not sharing corridors and lifts with strangers. They're just like houses - only smaller.

But in New Zealand, many don't like the idea. They've persisted with the dream that their immigrant parents had back in the 50s and 60s with stand alone houses and gardens and space and a dog. 

But as our cities get larger we end up living in suburbs far far away from the centre, stuck in cars, growing congestion and not living the Kiwi dream.

This new generation just wants enough rooms for a family and a tolerable commute.

Many of us lucky enough or old enough to have the stand-alones have been standing in the way of intensification in our suburbs. But that has been standing in the way of a generation who want the choice.

You may not choose to live in a townhouse, but you aren’t 24 with a baby and a limited budget.

I understand that an earlier paradise is being corrupted. But I also understand it was always inevitable.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
From today. Strict loan affordability regulations have gone from the
Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act, hairforth known as the
Triple CFA. Now this ends the bizarre inquisitions into your
personal life that the bank's indulged in before denying you alone.
So everyone's glad to see the back of those This
is good news for first home buyers. The loan to
value ratio rules have also eased, so again good news

(00:23):
for first home buyers and investors. So the question is
how green are these green shoots in the housing market. Well,
I read a report today which said home ownership for
typical first home buyers has gone from being solidly in
unaffordable territory at the start of the year to just
marginally unaffordable in June. Happy days, still tough. Meanwhile, facts out.

(00:46):
So it turns out the first home buyers are increasingly
buying townhouses. Townhouses made up to six percent of all
new dwelling consents in twenty twelve. Now they make up
nearly half forty five percent. They are I have to say,
the most of England is made up of terraced houses
and townhouses, most inner suburbs. In Australia, they're grander than apartments.

(01:07):
You're not sharing corridors, you don't have people stomping on
the roof above you, you don't have to get into
lifts with strangers. They are just like houses, only smaller,
with a couple of shared walls. But many in New
Zealand don't like the idea. They're persisted with the dream
that their immigrant parents have back in the fifties and sixties,
getting away from the terraced home and getting a standalone

(01:28):
house with a garden in space and a dog. But
you know, as our cities get larger, we end out
living in suburbs far far away from the center, stuck
in cars, growing congestion, not living the Kiwi dream. A
new generation just wants enough rooms for a family and
a tolerable commute. They want a roof. Many of us
lucky enough or old enough to have the standalone houses.

(01:49):
We've been standing in the way of intensification in our suburbs.
We've been Nimbi's. We are standing in the way of
a generation who want the choice. Let the market decide.
You may not choose to live in a townhouse, but
you're not twenty four with a baby and a limited
budget and you'll want a roof. And I understand that
an earlier paradise is being corrupted, but I also understand

(02:13):
it was always inevitable. For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive,
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