If you are one of them, the product was built for your situation. Whether it is the right choice is a different question, and it is the one I help with.
Auckland Is Where Most NZ Reverse Mortgages Are Written, And Why That Matters
Two things follow from Auckland’s share of the market. The lenders know Auckland property well and are comfortable with it, which makes applications across the city straightforward on location grounds. And Auckland house values mean that the age-based borrowing percentages translate into sums that are large enough to be dangerous if drawn carelessly.
A 75-year-old in a $1.2 million home in Mt Eden, Howick or Henderson has a Heartland limit of 35 percent, or $420,000. Almost nobody should borrow that. Heartland’s average initial loan across New Zealand is about $82,000, and the Auckland clients I see who are happiest with their loans five years on are the ones who borrowed in that range and drew it slowly.
Minimum Property Values In Auckland
Both lenders set a minimum property value of $250,000, which almost no owner-occupied Auckland home falls below. The question in Auckland is rarely value; it is property type.
Standalone houses across the city, from Papakura to Massey to Pakuranga, are standard. Townhouses on freehold or unit titles are standard. The scrutiny starts with apartments, leasehold titles in parts of the central city and the waterfront, cross-leases with unconsented work, and homes with known weathertightness history, which Auckland has more of than anywhere else in the country.
Apartments, Cross-Leases And Unit Titles Across The City
Apartments. Assessed case by case. Freehold, well-managed, larger apartments in established complexes are often acceptable. Small CBD studios, leasehold buildings and complexes with remediation issues or large special levies are often declined. Expect a full valuation.
Cross-leases. Common across Auckland’s older suburbs. Usually fine if the flats plan matches what has been built. Extensions and conservatories added since the plan was drawn can need the title updated first, which is a job for a surveyor and your solicitor.
Unit titles. Townhouse developments on unit titles are generally acceptable; the lender will look at the body corporate’s finances.
Weathertightness. A home with a history of leaky-building claims, or plaster-over-polystyrene construction from the late 1990s and early 2000s, may be declined or lent against at a lower limit even if remediated. Have the paperwork ready.
Where a property sits at the edge of the criteria, I check with both lenders before anyone pays for a valuation, because one often accepts what the other declines.
Meeting In Person Or By Video
My office is in Takapuna on the North Shore, and I meet clients across the city in person: central and west Auckland, the eastern suburbs, Manukau and Franklin by arrangement. Many Auckland families prefer a home visit so that adult children can join, and the drive is part of the job.
Video and phone work well for the first conversation and for families spread across the city, which is most of them. The written comparison of Heartland and SBS, the projection of the balance over time and the application itself are all handled the same way regardless of where you live.
Book A Chat Near You
The first conversation is free, usually half an hour, and commits you to nothing. It is all set out in my disclosure statement.