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New Zealander's love real estate and we love investing our money in property.

Whether you are a regular property investor or buying a house for the kids structuring the lending to your situation is very important.  You could borrow up to 95% of the purchase price.

When investing in property you need to consider:

• That the property income and any tax advantages cover the cost of ownership — loan, rates, repairs, mortgage repayments etc
• If you can cope financially if something goes wrong — if you can’t find tenants or the property needs urgent repairs or if interest rates increase.

Don’t rely on a capital gain. Property can go up and down in value and at times it can be hard to sell.  If you had to sell in a hurry or at the wrong time you could make a loss.

Most lenders provide loans for residential property investments at the same interest rates and fees as their ordinary home loans.  Some lenders will even lend to 95% of the property value.  But a few lenders have lower lending limits for investors, or will lend a lower proportion of the property value if you're buying an apartment, or a residential property outside the urban areas.  This just reflects the higher risk lenders are taking.

As with ordinary home loans, lenders will look at what you can afford to repay.  For example, a lender might prefer that the interest on the loan is less than 75% of the gross rental income and 35% of your gross personal income.

You can also expect to pay a 'low equity premium' or 'mortgage indemnity insurance' fee if you borrow over 80 or 90% of a property's value.