Each week the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB's Cooking The Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's the newest episode of our OneRoof-partnered series, on the techniques that will pay off your mortgage fastest. Hosted by Frances Cook.

Housing affordability is a real, genuine problem for people at the moment.

Many people would like to buy a house, but the prices have gone so high, it feels like silly money.

When we're talking such big numbers, it's hard for our brains to keep up, and suddenly another $50,000, $100,000, hey what's the big deal when you're in a tonne of debt already?

Except it is a big deal, as if you get it wrong, the bank will take it all off you, and you'll be worse off than you started.

But there are ways to set your budget, figure out what sort of house you can afford, and then nail that mortgage as quickly as possible.

For the latest Cooking the Books podcast I talked to Rupert Gough from Mortgage Lab, and AUT associate professor Aaron Gilbert.

We discussed when to stretch the budget, how equity lending works, and how a little goes a long way in paying the mortgage faster.

For the episode, watch the video.

If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/ Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/ and Twitter here https://twitter.com/FrancesCook