Guido Turnock-Chambers has been house hunting for several years. So when the 27-year-old lending consultant won a ballot to be eligible for a three-bedroom apartment in Northcote’s Fraser Avenue development, he felt like he’d just won Lotto.

Turnock-Chambers says that while he was eager to stop losing money on rent, and fast, he struggled to find a convenient KiwiBuild project that was close enough to his job on the North Shore. When the Fraser Avenue apartments came up for grabs, he took his chance and entered the ballot.

The new three-bedroom home – located just a short walk from the soon-to-be-reinvigorated town centre and directly accessible via Te Ara Awataha (Northcote’s planned greenway) – will cost $650,000. The same apartment on the open market today would be upward of $800,000. The first-home buyer will use his Kiwisaver and a $10,000 HomeStart grant to pay the $137,000 deposit.

For the full story, and to find out more about KiwiBuild and the Fraser Avenue apartments, click here.