Home Loans - March 1st Squirrel: What Happens to Your Mortgage in a Divorce? According to Statistics New Zealand, each year just under 1% of marriages end in divorce. For most, it’s a deeply painful time. If the emotional toll isn't enough, you must add the job of extricating …
First Home Buyers - February 24th Pre-Purchase Building Inspection: Do You Need One? What is a pre-purchase building inspection? A pre-purchase building inspection, or property inspection, is an inspection of a property that is undertaken prior to its purchase. The aim of the inspection is to identify any potential …
Home Loans - February 22nd Squirrel: Property Investors Beware the Credit Crunch Property investors beware the credit crunch! As we start to feel the bite of recent legislative and bank policy changes, New Zealand has been left staring down the barrel of a major credit crunch. In …
First Home Buyers - February 21st Is it Cheaper to Buy or Build A House in NZ To buy or to build – it's a simple question, for sure. But, unfortunately, the answer is a little more complicated. So Canstar decided to delve a little deeper into the question and crunch the …
First Home Buyers - February 18th Squirrel: LVR Restriction Tips for First Home Buyers It’s pretty tough going out there in the home loan market right now. Higher interest rates and new, hyper-prescriptive responsible lending laws have seen affordability and borrowing power take some big hits in recent months. That’s biting hard across the board …
Home Loans - February 17th How to Subdivide in NZ: What you Need to Know Across the country, especially in our main centres, land is at a premium. So if you're fortunate enough to own a home on a large section, one way of capitalising on its value is to …
First Home Buyers - February 16th Squirrel: 5 Big Hidden Homebuying Costs for FHBs Buying a home is (probably) going to be the biggest investment you’ll ever make. As a first home buyer, when you’re already fronting up such a hefty chunk of change, you’ll want to make sure …
Home Loans - February 14th Rising Building Costs of a House in NZ: Up 10%+ New Zealand is in the middle of a building boom. Last year, a record 48,899 new homes were consented, up 24% on 2020's numbers. As a result, the demand for building materials and skilled construction …
Home Loans - January 20th Five Ways to Pay Off A Home Loan Faster Author: Melanie Tesoriero Typically, when you take out a home loan you are given a period of 25 or 30 years to pay it off. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to chip away at your mortgage for …
Banking & Insurance - December 23rd Canstar’s Top Stories of 2021 Tempus really does fugit. Despite the year being dragged down by the surprisingly tenacious virus, the past 12 months have been a blur of awards, ratings and great stories here at Canstar. We've introduced some cool …