Feeling the Mortgage Pinch: How The Kiwi Dream Can Become A Nightmare
Kiwi’s love home ownership. But in recent years, the number of us owning a home is declining, the hurdles to jump over for a mortgage seem to be higher, and the cost-to-income ratio is painfully increasing.
And now to add to that storm, we have wallet-annihilating interest rates and eye-watering inflation - it’s turning more grim than a Wellington southerly. Together, the sinister duo of Interest and their nefarious henchman, Inflation, are squeezing the New Zealander's dream tighter than a pair of budgie smugglers two sizes too small.
I want to break free (and refix my rate)
Wow, A lot can happen in a year! Cast your mind back to mid-late 2020, when New Zealand had just come off a period of lockdown. We couldn’t go out and spend money and subsequently, there was a pent-up demand to do so when we emerged from lockdown.