First home buyers continue leaping into the housing and mortgage markets
While house prices move up at a glacial pace first home buyers are taking advantage of the hollowed-out market to buy and get what they want.
Monday, May 11th 2026, 10:18AM
by Sally Lindsay
The latest Cotality-Westpac First Home Buyer report shows they’ve bought 24,800 homes over 12 months to the end of the first quarter of this year – the highest annual total since the third quarter of 2021, near the market peak.
They made up 27.5% of all property purchases, just shy of the record 28.2% share at the end of last year.
This strength of first home buyers is right across the country, with market shares running above long-term averages since 2005.
For example, across the wider Wellington area, first home buyers account for 37% of activity, about 8% above the average. Hamilton has also been strong, alongside Napier, Gisborne, South Waikato and Waikato districts.
For those looking to get into their first home, lower mortgage rates have made it much easier to get a foot on the property ladder.
In most parts of the country (excluding Auckland), minimum mortgage payments are now about $130/month lower than they were this time last year, and they’re a whopping $820/month lower than they were back in 2024.
In Auckland, where first home prices tend to be much higher, the fall in mortgage costs has been even larger.
Minimum mortgage payments are now around $180/month lower than they were this time last year, and they’re around $1,100/month lower than they were back in 2024.
First home buyers have had to pay a little more for a home, though with a median price of $720,000 which is just $20,000 less than the first quarter of 2022’s peak of $740,000.
First home buyers are also getting more active across the value spectrum, the report says. For example, in the middle 40% of the market by value, their share rose from just 21% in 2015 to almost 29% in 2025 and a little higher over the first quarter of this year.
More than half of first home buyer loans are done at less than a 20% deposit and Westpac’s lending records show a recent average LVR if 81%, up from less than 77% in 2024.
The average age of first home buyers has also dropped slightly, with an average of 35 over the past year, down from a typical age of 36 in 2024.
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