Former Married at First Sight NZ contestant Haydn Daniels is on the hunt for a new date - but not with a fellow reality TV star.
Instead, Daniels is going to what is likely New Zealand's first speed dating night for first-home buyers in the hope of meeting someone he can buy a house with.
The event is being run by online startup Miuwi, which says it acts like a dating service, linking home buyers so they can pool their money and buy houses in a shared-ownership deal.
Jokingly calling itself the Tinder of property investing, Miuwi believes it has hit on a model that can open up home ownership to many young Kiwis at a time when ownership rates are at their lowest levels in 60 years.
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Former Married at First Sight contestant Haydn Daniels.
Daniels is among those unable to afford to buy on his own, and hopes to instead find an Auckland house worth about $800,000-$900,000 he can live in with another person, while each pays off half the home loan.
Yet - unlike his 2017 television stint - he doesn't plan to jump blindly into a property union at first deposit.
"I'm looking forward to meeting people in similar positions, throwing around some ideas and seeing where it goes," he said of Wednesday's speed dating night.
"Obviously there are inherent risks in buying a house with someone you don't know too well ... you don't want to do it totally blind."
Miuwi co-founder Brad Parsonson said the speed dating element was a "little tongue in cheek".
His team aimed to separate those who pre-registered for the night into groups of likely home buyer matches, while also asking fun questions and running games to encourage the speed daters to mingle and chat as much as possible.
But Parsonson said the situation was serious for many.
Since launching last November, people from 23 Kiwi towns and cities had registered their interest with Miuwi, holding a combined total of $4.7 million in first-home buyer deposit savings between them.
With the average deposit size being $69,791, it meant two people together could buy in even the "most challenging" house markets, he said.
Becky and Baylee were among the first customers to buy a home together with the help of start-up company Miuwi, which calls itself the Tinder of property investing. Photo / Supplied
As well as using a database to match people into compatible home-buying partnerships, Miuwi also helped step customers through the buying process.
This included completing background credit checks, assisting buyers to get the house they want, drawing up the legal documents and connecting them with insurance and home loan products.
The company currently doesn't charge a fee, but receives a commission from the companies whose services the buyers use.
Daniels, who is a primary school teacher and part time pro wrestler, had previously been planning to buy with his sister until she recently moved overseas.
The pair had enlisted Miuwi's help and made it "quite far along in the buying process".
Miuwi's services "were fantastic and made everything easy", he said.
Bailey Gorst is on the hunt for someone she can buy her first home with. Photo / Doug Sherring
Fellow Aucklander Bailey Gorst also plans to attend Wednesday's speed dating and hopes to find someone she can live with and split the mortgage on a North Shore home at a price of about $800,000.
Queenstown resident Jordan Sinke won't be at the speed dating but is also interested in buying and sharing with someone. Unusually, he has a large deposit but not so large regular income.
The growing popularity of shared-ownership schemes comes as major bank BNZ also announced last week it was partnering with a company called YouOwn to support its customers "into their first home faster".
YouOwn aimed to help Kiwis with less savings secure BNZ home loans by stumping up a share of the upfront deposit for the loan.
In return for this, YouOwn charged a 4.95 per cent fee and gave home buyers the option of buying out its share in the home after five years.
Miuwi's Auckland speed dating night takes place at the Fitzroy Lounge Bar, in Ponsonby, from 6pm on Wednesday.
- New Zealand Herald
