Loan scheme leads to construction of over 4,300 houses
ASB is celebrating helping 8,800 Kiwis achieve their new home dream as it concludes its Back My Build home loan scheme which launched last year.
Back My Build offered a 1.79% floating interest rate as part of the ASB’s commitment to use discounted funds available under the Reserve Bank NZ Funding for Lending programme to help build a more sustainable future for New Zealanders.
More than 4,300 new homes are under construction as ASB concludes the initiative.
ASB allocated a portion of the funding to support a more sustainable housing market by passing the benefit of the low interest rate on to customers.
The Back My Build interest rate will no longer be available to any applications or top-ups that are not conditionally or fully approved by 8 April.
ASB executive general manager of retail banking Craig Sims (pictured) said the initiative had been incredibly successful and had contributed to addressing critical housing supply issues.
“Back My Build’s played a notable role in boosting the supply of quality new home builds into New Zealand’s constrained housing market. In fact, ASB’s economists are now predicting New Zealand’s housing supply/demand imbalance will be largely resolved by mid-2023,” said Sims.
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Thousands of ASB customers were able to make their new home build dream a reality with the historically low interest rate offered. Back My Build launched in May 2021 with the aim of approving loans for approximately 1,000 new builds.
“Just four weeks on from launch, we’d received 3,000 applications for more than $2 billion in lending. As we close, we’ve received more than 11,000 applications, and more than 4,300 builds are underway,’’ said Sims.
ASB’s lending threshold has been reached ahead of schedule as a result of the overwhelmingly positive response.
“ASB will work with customers whose Back My Build applications have been conditionally or fully approved on, or prior to, April 08 to document their lending by July 08, 2022,” Sims said.
ASB will allow a 90-day period from the final date of the initiative for customers to submit their approved Back My Build loans for documentation.
Back My Build also encouraged sustainable design by incentivising green design elements to be incorporated into customers’ new builds to meet the New Zealand Green Building Council’s 6 Homestar-rated standard.
