First Home Owner?
Are you on the hunt for your first home? Wish you had help available to get your feet onto the property ladder?
If you answered yes, then Kainga Ora may be able to help you through one of the many Government Homeownership Assistance packages that it offers. Please see below for a brief summary of the packages that they have on offer:
FIRST HOME GRANT
The First Home Grant is a sum of money that you may be eligible to receive from Kainga Ora to help towards the purchase of your first home. You must have been contributing regularly to your KiwiSaver for at least three years to receive this grant.
In terms of income, you must be earning under $95,000.00 if you are single (with no dependents) or $150,000.00 (with dependents). If there a 2 or more people purchasing the home, then the price cap is no more than $150,000.00 in total over the past 12 months.
If the home you are purchasing is an existing home, you could be eligible to receive $1000.00 for each of the 3 (or more) years that you have been contributing to your KiwiSaver. There is a cap on the total amount that you can receive, this being $5000.00 for existing properties.
If the home you are purchasing is a new build, you could be eligible to receive $2000.00 for each of the 3 (or more) years that you have been contributing to your KiwiSaver. There is a cap on the total amount that you can receive, this being $510,000.00 for existing properties.
The regional price cap for receiving this grant is $875,000.00 and this applies to both existing properties and new builds.
FIRST HOME LOAN
The First Home Loan scheme provided by Kainga Ora can also make it easier for you to get into your first home. If you meet the requirements, you will only need a 5% deposit rather than 20% which is currently required by most banks.
The First Home Loan is only provided by certain banks with Kainga Ora underwriting the amount. Income requirements are identical to those for the First Home Grant.
You must be earning under $95,000.00 if you are single (with no dependents) or $150,000.00 (with dependents). If there a 2 or more people purchasing the home, then the price cap is no more than $150,000.00 in total over the past 12 months. Some (but not all) of the requirements for eligibility include being a first home buyer and having the ability to pay a 5% deposit, however, there is no price cap regarding the price of the home that can be purchased.
KIWISAVER FIRST HOME WITHDRAWAL
This is the service that will perhaps be the most familiar to you, where you have the option of withdrawing your KiwiSaver to help with the purchase of your first home.
The requirements to be able to withdraw these funds are like those for the two earlier services in that you must have been contributing to KiwiSaver for more than three years and must not have owned any home previously.
Key differences here are that there is no income or price cap, meaning there is no amount that you must be earning under to qualify, and you are able to buy any home at any price. Additionally, this can be accessed no matter which lender you choose to use.
KAINGA WHENUA LOAN
Do you have a licence to occupy Māori land and are looking to build? If so, this scheme (accessed exclusively through Kiwibank) would provide funding towards the cost of the build and infrastructure.
If you qualify for this scheme, there would be no deposit required if you are seeking a loan under $2000,000.00. A 15% deposit would be required for any loans over $200,000.00. You would also need to meet Kiwibank’s lending criteria. There is no price cap applicable to this scheme.
KIWI BUILD
Kiwibuild is a scheme established by the New Zealand Government which aims to build and provide affordable homes for first home buyers. An allocation of 1–3-bedroom homes in each region are price capped, meaning that they cannot be sold for over a certain price.
Access to a Kiwibuild property is through a ballot system and income requirements are similar to those previously discussed. You must be earning under $120,000.00 if you are single (with no dependents) or $150,000.00 (with dependents). If there a 2 or more people purchasing the home, then the price cap is no more than $200,000.00 in total over the past 12 months. For this scheme, lending can be obtained from any bank.
AXIS
This is also a scheme which aims to help potential first home buyers afford and purchase a property. Similarly, to the Kiwi Build program, the way in which these affordable properties are accessed is through a ballot system. 3 Key differences are that this scheme is only accessible in the suburb of Hobsonville in Auckland. You must be earning under $85,000.00 if you are single and if there a 2 or more people purchasing the home, then the price cap is no more than $130,000.00 in total over the past 12 months.
FIRST HOME PARTNER
This scheme is intended to help aspiring first home buyers whose deposit and home loan amount is not enough to purchase a suitable home, in that Kainga Ora would come on and purchase the home together with you owning a share of the property.
There is no price cap on how much the property must be, but you must have a 5% deposit. Similarly, to the First Home Loan, this scheme can only be accessed through certain banks which are Westpac, BNZ and SBS.
Regarding income, your household must have earned under $130,000.00 over the past 12 months and if you do qualify, Kainga Ora will provide 25% or $200,000.00 (whichever is the lower amount).
The goal would be for you to work towards buying out Kainga Ora’s share in the future through means such as re-financing the property. While it is currently a tough market for first home buyers, there is help available.
As seen above, Kainga Ora has many Government Home Ownership packages which may be of assistance to you. We have provided a snapshot of these packages and highly recommend for you to visit the following link to obtain more information on what each package offers. If you have any questions, please see below for how you can contact Kainga Ora directly:
Enquiries Firsthome.enquiries@kaingaora.govt.nz Contact Number 0508 935 266
If you need help to decide which packages you may be eligible for, please visit the link below: https://kaingaora.govt.nz/home-ownership/first-home-decision-tool/
Sutcliffe Matson Law are able to assist you with any of the above applications should you need some assistance. Get in touch with our friendly team on (09) 2798351 to arrange an appointment to discuss next steps.