First home buyers hold on

Despite continued affordability pressures, tight lending rules and higher mortgage rates, New Zealand’s first home buyers have maintained their record high market share over the past two quarters.

CoreLogic’s latest First Home Buyer report, released last month, shows the number of purchases made by first home buyers in the first quarter of this year was 3260; the lowest for that quarter of the year since 2011. However, that group has held onto its market share of around 25 percent – on par with previous record highs and well above the long-term average of 21-22 percent.