Mortgage broker for Darfield

Buying in Darfield

Darfield sits about 35 kilometres west of Christchurch, on the road to the high country, and it is growing quickly. Several new subdivisions are under way or planned around the town, and the schools are adding classrooms to keep up. Families come here for bigger sections at a lower price than they would pay closer to the city.

Septic tanks and the wastewater changeover

Darfield is moving from septic tanks to a reticulated wastewater network, piped to the treatment plant at Rolleston. New subdivisions connect as they are built. The existing township connects in stages, with the first stage planned for 2028 to 2031 and later stages after that, and owners pay for their own private connection on their section. Larger properties of around half a hectare are expected to stay on their own systems.

For a buyer, that means two things. If the home is on a septic system, your lawyer should check its condition and consent, and a valuer may ask about it. And if a connection is coming, it is worth budgeting for the cost. Neither is a reason not to buy. Both are things a lender may ask about, and we would rather you heard them from us first.

New builds and bigger sections

A lot of what sells here is a section and a build contract. Construction loans release money in stages against the build, and new builds are exempt from the debt-to-income limits that can cap what you borrow on an existing home. On a larger section, check how the land is zoned and how big it is, because that decides whether a lender treats it as a standard home loan or as lifestyle lending.

Where we are

Our office is at 3/24 Dublin Street in Christchurch. Many of our Selwyn clients never come in at all and do everything by phone and email, and the advice is exactly the same either way. Journey Mortgages holds a 5.0 rating from 69 Google reviews and Alex Toohey is a Top 25 New Zealand Mortgage Adviser.