Home oh so sweet home

Shontelle and Henae Hira can barely believe their eyes as they watch the wooden frames of their new home rise in suburban Tauranga.

Months earlier they had given up on home ownership after finding nothing in their price range.

“We’d been wanting to buy our first home and saving as hard as we can, but never felt it was going to happen or was possible,” Shontelle said.

The couple had cobbled together their KiwiSaver investments and moved in with Shontelle’s parents to save a deposit. But it still wasn’t enough.

They needed the Government’s First Home Grant as well. Yet no homes on sale below Tauranga’s First Home Grant $500,000 price cap were “in a state to put my 4-year-old son in”, she said.

Then they looked at new builds. Couples building a home could secure up to $20,000 towards their deposit, yet despite months of looking, all the new-build packages under $550,000 had sold out.

Luckily, Shontelle worked for a developer. And when a buyer pulled out of a $550,000 new-build deal with her company, she and Henae jumped in to take over the purchase. Signing the contract just before lockdown in March, they feel “incredibly lucky”.

Shontelle said every day young couples contacted her company about new builds that would qualify for the grant. Yet her company had none because it couldn’t get its hands on new land to build more.

The purchase was a huge milestone for the couple; Henae grew up in a family where neither parent owned property. And they know their home will be built with extra loving care as Henae works for the company contracted to build the development.

“Not only ours, he will be building the whole street,” Shontelle said.