The weather in Auckland is cold and grey, but solar panels are still flying off the shelf.
Banks are now competing for customers to take up low or no-interest loans to make their homes warmer, which has seen many Kiwis make the decision to go solar.
It comes as Reserve Bank data shows there was around $6 billion in new residential mortgage lending in June, compared to $8 billion at the same time last year.
The decline comes for both first home buyers and other owner-occupiers, which is welcome news for the Reserve Bank's goal to curb inflation, but is forcing banks to seek new ways to entice customers.
Auckland homeowner Peter Clarkson sees the loans for home heating improvements as a great opportunity to switch to solar energy and reduce the amount spent on electricity.
“[It’s] a really good investment, to encourage people to get solar, electric is just going up and up and that's made it more affordable for the normal person,” he said.
Westpac is now extending its 'Warm-Up' loan by offering 0% interest.
Westpac chief executive Cathrine McGrath believed the extension will allow New Zealanders to save money and improve their homes.
“That's $40000 so you can do great things to make your home drier and warmer and it also helps the environment.
“It's really sensible lending about home improvements, it reduces the cost of builds, it's helping to make homes warmer, and in the process, it's better Aotearoa because we're relying less on traditional forms of heating and energy,” McGrath said.
Both ANZ and KiwiBank have sustainable loans on offer too.
Andrew Eagles from the Green Building Council wants to see more Kiwis use these loans to make their homes warmer.
“30 to 40% of Kiwi homes are damp and mouldy, the more options there are the better, we'd love to see more Kiwis insulating those homes, making them warm for their whānau," he said.
“With every one dollar put into insulation in homes the New Zealand health system wins by $5."
With many choosing to make their homes warmer the green way, the demand for solar panels has soared as the need for traditional sources of energy drops.
Harrisons’ Guy Coleman says that the amount of people working from home has caused these demands.
“People working from home and using home power, not the businesses power, so they've got the power bill and gone 'we need to do something about this' and so that sparked a lot of people getting in touch with us,” Coleman said.
Homes and buildings make up 20% of New Zealand’s greenhouse emissions.
There are now calls for these offers to go further.
“What we see in a lot of Europe is these offers supplemented by a government grant, because it makes it far more accessible for Kiwi whānau,” said Eagles.
Coleman said he would “love to see some moves being made by the government as well".
While retail banks throw money at customers, the Reserve Bank is trying to reduce the amount of cash floating around the economy to reduce demand and inflation.
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