Originally Posted by
KW
Are you serious or just living in a bubble? Why would a 50+ person on $120k a year be renting? Perhaps they are newly arrived in the country, or recently separated or divorced and not living in the family home, perhaps they have sold their house and dont wish to buy in Akl or Chch's stupid property market, maybe they are spenders not savers and dont have a 20% deposit to buy a million dollar Auckland house, maybe they dont plan on being in NZ for very long and dont want to commit to a mortgage, maybe they like living in a certain type of property (rural farm, inner city apartment) but have no wish to own it, perhaps they are choosing to temporarily rent in a particular school zone while their kid attends high school, ... I can think of dozens of reasons why one would choose to rent rather than buy.
As to why Harmoney not a bank, the Harmoney interest rate is 9.99% for someone with a good credit rating, the bank rate for an unsecured personal loan is 17.95%. Yeah, totally hard to see why they didnt go to their bank!
And banks are a pain in the ass, i couldnt even get a basic credit card when i arrived back in NZ, let alone a mortgage (because if you are self employed or rely on investment income, the banks dont consider that to be "real" income).