There continues to be good activity from first-home buyers which makes sense as they are still not competing with large numbers of investor buyers.

During Budget 2022 the Government announced some changes to the Kainga Ora First Home Loan Scheme (you may know this as the 5% deposit loan scheme) effective 1 June 2022. Why is this important? Because right now every single bank (with the exception of Westpac) has tough restrictions on lending to anyone without a 20% deposit, meaning many first home buyers, in particular, are locked out of the property market.