

They have moved house nine times in 10 years.

On one occasion, a landlord returned from overseas and moved back into the rental home. On the other occasions they've been forced to move because the Hamilton rentals they were living in were sold.

That's nine times they've called the removal trucks, nine times they've packed up their lives into boxes and nine times they've hunted for a place to stay - in just 10 years.

Aucklanders have been buying into the Hamilton property market, making it difficult for Hamilton families such as Debbe Laurent, 47, Mark Laurent, 43, and their four children, to make the leap from renting to owning.

They've been trying to save for a home but Auckland's raging property market, lending restrictions, property investors, rising house prices and a cut to the official cash rate (OCR) were factors working against them.

"This is our ninth place in 10 years because every single house has been sold out from under us," said Mark Laurent.

"With the exception of one," said Debbe Laurent.

They were in one house for less than six months before it was snapped up and have only been in their current dwelling since March.

"The house we were in before was put on the market at Christmas time, it was sold at the beginning of February and we were given six-weeks to move and there was nothing in the price range we could even consider to afford," said Mark Laurent.

The Laurents' four children need plenty of space at home. They also needed a place close to their children's school to reduce the disruption.

They didn't qualify for a Housing New Zealand home and were left to battle in the open market and pay $460 per week.

"We went to every single rental company saying, 'what have you got available' and we were going up to $500 a week," said Mark Laurent.

"They said they [rental homes] are just not out there. They are either being rented to Aucklanders coming down here to live, because it is cheaper rent and the commute is not that bad any more, or they are being sold."

Debbe Laurent said they paid their bills on time and were a regular, hard working family. She runs a small business and Mark Laurent is an electrician, recovering from a second back surgery.

Saving for a deposit to buy their own home got tougher when the Reserve Bank introduced loan-to-value ratios but each time they moved, their money dribbled away.

"When you go to move - you take your bond with you but you've got letting fee which is one week plus GST, so you are usually paying double rent for at least a week while you move. Basically two weeks rent - say goodbye."

Costs to reconnect the phone and electricity had to be factored in, as well costs for professional movers or truck hire and fuel if they did the work themselves, said Mark Laurent.

"We worked it out that we are basically throwing away $1500 to $3000 for moving," he said.

Add to their woes new figures out this week from Quotable Value which saw the average value for a home in Hamilton rise by 4.8 per cent since the market peaked in 2007 - that deposit just keeps climbing.

And with the latest Reserve Bank announcement, which saw the official cash rate cut from 3.5 per cent to 3.25 per cent, Lugton's managing director Simon Lugton said Hamilton's market was set to burn.

"It's going to add more heat to it," said Lugton. "It's probably got enough heat at the moment because we've got a stock shortage and plenty of demand."

He said the flow of buyers from Auckland, home owners and investors, would remain strong.

"There's access to good schooling here and [they can] cash up a house in Auckland and buy a much superior home in Hamilton and still have money in the bank."

Hamilton's Labour List MP Sue Moroney said the Auckland market was in crisis and the government had to intervene but was in denial.

"They don't seem capable of making the range of policy decisions that need to be made in order to address the Auckland housing crisis, which is now impacting on Hamilton City."

But National MP for Hamilton East David Bennett said Hamilton's 4.8 per cent growth since 2007 indicated it was not in the same market as Auckland which leaped 51.6 per cent in the same period.

He said the OCR decision would have little impact on Auckland's fire but Hamilton growth was stable.

"Because Hamilton is the closest city to Auckland, we will experience growth out of the Auckland market.

"We are in a positive trend because we are close to Auckland rather than some other cities."

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