First Home Loan and First Home Start Grant

Want to get into your first home with a low 5% deposit? With the KiwiSaver First Home Loan you potentially can. 

Come and talk to us to review the participating banks lending criteria, and we may be able to get you into your first home sooner than you realised.

If you are buying vacant land to build on, you must have a First Home Grant pre-approval in place before you purchase the land. The pre-approval will last six months. You may settle on the land without having a fixed price build contract; however, you need to provide us with a signed copy of the fixed price build contract, as well as a signed copy of the sale and purchase agreement for the land, before your grant pre-approval expires or you will not be approved for the grant. The total combined costs for the land purchase and the house construction must be within the relevant house price caps.

NEED MORE DEPOSIT?

The Home Start Grant can help with that, thanks to the recent changes to the house price caps. The new cap is now $875,000 for an existing property and a cap of $925,000 for a land and build (This is for the Queenstown-Lakes region, other caps apply to different regions across NZ)

Please come and see us to discuss in detail.

 

HOME START GRANT CRITERIA

You must meet the below requirements:

To be eligible for a First Home Grant, you must:

  • be over 18
  • have earned less than the income caps in the last 12 months
  • not currently own any property, this does not include ownership of Māori land
  • have been contributing at least the minimum amount to KiwiSaver (or complying fund or exempt employer scheme) for 3 years or more
  • purchase a property that is within the regional house price caps
  • agree to live in your new house for at least 6 months.
  • You must also make sure the house or land you want to buy meets the property requirements.

In the 12 months before you apply, you must have earned:

  • $95,000 or less before tax for a individual buyer
  • $150,000 or less before tax for a individual buyer with one or more dependents
  • $150,000 or less before tax for 2 or more buyers, regardless of the number of dependants.

Published: 4/4/2023
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