This story was first published on Tuesday September 18.

Your playlist will load after this ad

Inquiries from 1 NEWS have led to some KiwiBuild apartments being redesigned because they're too small for banks to lend on.

The 25 apartments announced last week at the 340 Onehunga development in Auckland are to be the first KiwiBuild apartments sold off the plans.

However, the six $380,000 KiwiBuild studio apartments were just 39.2sqm in size.

That's below the minimum 40sqm that major banks insist upon for buyers with KiwiBuild sized deposits.

After 1 NEWS made inquiries into the matter, the developer scrambled last night and adjusted the floor plans of the studio apartments.



The developer now says the apartments will meet the 40sqm criteria.

Housing Minister Phil Twyford told 1 NEWS today the incident is "no big deal".

"No look, it's no big deal, it's a very, very, small difference in the floor area, actually the apartments now are going to be slightly bigger," Mr Twyford says.

Loanmarket Director and mortgage broker Bruce Patten can't understand how it happened.

"The minimum size that a lender will lend money on an apartment has been 40sqm for some time.

"It's interesting they make these assumptions without approaching the people who are going to be funding it," Mr Patten says.

National MP Judith Collins says Mr Twyford should be embarrassed for not getting the details right.

"This is a blunder alright, but then most of what KiwiBuild has been, has been a bit of a blunder," Ms Collins says.