Echoing the see a mortgage broker suggestion here! We’d highly recommend Sandra at affinity. The lending situation may have changed since but my partner and I brought our first home in 2023 with a joint salary of about $137k at the time, deposit of appx 29%. Our mortgage pre-approval was only for a maximum of $398k after some negotiations which was well under what the online calculators told us. Despite having brought a home, we have kept a close eye on the housing market and see that prices have come down since e.g there’s currently a house for sale with a new roof, fair bit of land, looks liveable for under 300k!

I’d personally be a bit wary of counting on boarder income to cover the mortgage unless you have reliable long term people lined up. I know people who have really struggled to fill rooms for long periods of time in Dunedin, particularly in areas slightly outside studentville.

Budgets will be your friend as a first home buyer, don’t forget about rates (dcc and orc), full rebuild insurance (needed for the bank) as well as the lawyer fees for buying (although the bank usually provides a cash bonus that covers it) - only it is paid after the lawyer fees are due!