Mortgage broker for Timaru

Buying in Timaru

Timaru offers something that has become rare in New Zealand: a standalone house on a full section at a price a single income can carry. For first home buyers that changes the whole calculation, and it is why a lot of people who work remotely, or who are happy to leave a bigger city behind, end up looking here.

The trade-off is the age of the housing stock. A lot of Timaru housing is genuinely old, and lenders care about that for practical reasons: the condition of the roof, wiring, piles and plumbing all show up in a registered valuation, and anything that reads as deferred maintenance can affect both the valuation and the insurance. A building report here earns its money more reliably than almost anywhere else in the country. Where a property needs work, it is worth talking about the finance for the renovation at the same time as the purchase rather than a year later.

Investors buying for yield

Lower purchase prices against rents that have held up reasonably well make South Canterbury attractive on a yield basis, and a good number of our investor clients live somewhere else entirely and buy here. Investment lending has its own rules — higher deposits, different treatment of rent, and structure that decides whether the purchase after this one is still possible. Our property investors guide works through the yield calculations properly if you want to run the numbers first.

Distance is not a problem

Our office is at 3/24 Dublin Street in Christchurch, and effectively all of our South Canterbury clients deal with us by phone and email. Nothing about the advice or the process changes, and there is no fee to you on home and investment lending because the lender pays us.

Journey Mortgages holds a 5.0 rating from 60 Google reviews and Alex Toohey is a Top 25 New Zealand Mortgage Adviser.