Local property experts are cautioning home buyers to choose suburbs carefully as certain areas within the local government area can incur tighter lending restrictions.
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A suburb just 10 kilometers east of the CBD could restrict borrowers from being able to to lend as much as those wanting to buy in the 2650 postcode.
While the record low interest rates are firmly in favour of the Wagga buyer, a local finance broker said understanding lending restrictions should be a greater priority for regional buyers.
Cameron Abood lives in Forest Hill with his wife and two young children and said he was not aware of postcode differences during the purchase of his two properties.
"We only seriously looked out here, so I didn't have anything to compare the data to," Mr Abood said.
"They [lenders] did ask for the addresses and entered it into a computer and just told us the figures we needed.
"I thought it was based off the value of the property within the neighbouring area, but I didn't realise actual postcodes meant anything."
The Abood family welcomed their second child about two months ago and Mr Abood, a local high school teacher, said the community feel was also a reason why they chose to reside in Forest Hill.
"It actually started off with my mother-in-law who drivers past the area and she saw signs for Brunslea Park so we investigated the area," Mr Abood said.
"We also wanted a larger block than what you get in town, but still accessible to all things Wagga has to offer, there's also a nice community vibe out here."
Mr Abood has lived in Forest Hill for about three years and bought an investment property in the area 18 months ago.
"I don't think there were any issues with location, it was just the asset-based with the amount borrowed and just doing the calculations of income and assets versus the amount of debts; so just standard borrowing," he said.
Finance broker at Mainland Finance Brad Bland said certain areas in the Riverina are favoured by banks compared to others.
"Wagga, Griffith and Albury are the favoured areas in the Riverina that receive the best deals from all home loan lenders, given their growing population and the average days that a house is on the market for," Mr Bland said.
"The smaller towns in our region such as Junee, Narrandera, Leeton and Hay are looked at less favourably by lenders due to low population growth and houses have a longer sale period on average.
"Some lenders even single out Forest Hill due to the data they have collected and being outside of the Wagga 2650 postcode."
Mr Bland said lenders often collect suburb statistics from real estate data, like Australia's Core Logic.
"They have identified trends specific to most locations in Australia from previous sales and valuations," he said.
While suburbs like Forest Hill can be singled out, tighter lending restrictions are not always going to affect everyone.
"Some lenders do have policies specific to some professions; teachers, nurses, doctors, accountants and solicitors are some of the professions that are looked at under these policies," Mr Bland said.
"These professions may not receive an interest discount but may be eligible to a higher lending margin without lone mortgage insurance."
Head of Elders Home Loans John Rolfe said regional centres like Wagga are treated very similar to metropolitan areas for home loans.
"As long as the properties are established homes with a decent level of sales activity and within the city limited," he said.
"The major difference is when it comes to new estates and construction, or higher Loan to Value ratios where the borrower needs a loan more than 80 per cent of the value of the property.
"This is when lenders require lenders mortgage insurance and the providers of this insurance are insuring the lender, in case the borrower defaults.
"As such, lenders are very conservative and tend to have more restrictions: one of these is postcode based," he said.
Mr Rolfe said there are a number of regional factors which could impact how much borrowers can loan from the bank.
"If there are two or three areas covered by the same postcode and there has been a history of loan defaults in one of these areas, it can impact the availability of credit," he said.
"Another consideration is land size; if someone is looking to buy a lifestyle property, or over 50 acres, lenders require a number of criteria such as connected services and that the land will not be used for income producing primary production.
"Another factor is income source and how each lender treats it; people who receive some form of income assistance, or are employed casually, or on probation in a new job are all subject to different rules and policies."