A Kiwi mum says she would have been a "renter for life" without the help of a shared ownership scheme which helped her not only get onto the property ladder but also pay her mortgage despite high mortgage rates.
On Wednesday the Reserve Bank held the Official Cash Rate (OCR) at 5.5 percent as domestic inflation remains high. It marks nearly a year of the same rate and it's putting enormous pressure on homeowners to pay their mortgages.
New homeowner Monique Nees-Kairua is all too aware of the struggles. Nees-Kairua recently purchased a property through a shared ownership agreement with the Housing Foundation.
Shared ownership schemes mean the Housing Foundation owns a portion of the home alongside Nees-Kairua. Buyers buy the foundation out over time – until they own it all. The Housing Foundation said that typically takes seven to 10 years.
Nees-Kairua told AM's Lloyd Burr on Thursday there's "absolutely" no way she would have been able to buy without the foundation's support.
"I would have probably been a renter for life," the mum said. "[The support] has been everything. I've got children and it has provided us with a little bit more security."
She said buying a house was a daunting process, but everyone at the Housing Foundation was incredible and walked her through the entire process.
"I can't imagine doing it without the help of the Housing Foundation," she added.
Housing Foundation support manager Manuel Adithela said the charitable trust offers both shared ownership and rent-to-buy programmes.
Adithela said more than 1100 houses have been through their programmes.
"It's pretty powerful to be able to work with our families," she told Burr.
Adithela added buying a home is a real struggle for many Kiwis and the foundation works with them to help them through the process.
"The struggle for some of our families is if they just don't have that deposit or it's trying to figure out how to work their finances out and that's where we step in and we partner with these families," she said.
Adithela said with shared ownership schemes the deposit is put down by the buyer, but the foundation helps them arrange mortgage agreements with the banks.
"We ask our families to bring in their five percent and then in terms of the deposit side we don't really help, that's where our families are coming through on their own. But where we come in is we partner with them in the other shares to help them meet the mortgage arrangements with the bank."
Watch the full interview above.
