What is the Kiwisaver Home Start Grant all about?

Now firstly, I should point out that, it is different to the Kiwisaver Withdrawal, which is the subject of one of our other videos you can watch here.

This Kiwisaver Home Start Grant is a contribution towards your deposit from the government if you are buying your first home. The Kiwisaver withdrawal, is a withdrawal of your Kiwisaver funds. Now they can work in tandem, but they can also work separately aswell.

So the grant is if you have been in Kiwisaver for a minimum of 3 years and contributed the minimum amount, you get $3,000 towards your first home (conditions apply). That's increased to $4,000 for 4 years, and $5,000 for 5 years of Kiwisaver membership. Also this contribution is doubled if you are buying a newly built home, or a home which is under construction.

There are some conditions around it, but essentially it is doubled per person. So its up to $10,000 per person for a new build, for a maximum contribution of $20,000 per couple or per group of people for a new property.

There are some criteria that are involved for the Home Start Grant. There is an income cap, and also a joint income cap if you and your partner are applying. So you can't be over that cap to receive the Grant. Also there are regional house price caps aswell, and that depends on the region so for example:

• The cap is higher for Auckland, and lower for other parts of the country, but it is also higher for new builds.

• So its designed for people, who are struggling to get the deposit together required for finance a helping hand to buy an entry level property and for people where there income isn't to high in which they could apply for conventional finance without the Grant.

• It’s still subject to bank lending criteria, and not all banks offer financing even if you have got the grant. So this can also work in conjunction with Welcome Home Loans, which is the subject of another of our videos. So the Kiwisaver Withdrawal, The Home Start Grant, and the Welcome Home Loan, can all work together, or they can work separately.

We look forward to talking to you, if you have any questions, if you are interested in the Home Start Grant you can go to the Home Start Grant information page on the Housing New Zealand website, and apply for a letter, which essentially says you are preapproved for the grant, and you can bring that to a Mortgage Adviser like myself, and we can use that as a basis for a preapproval with banks.

If you would like to get in touch with Matthew and book in an appointment please see here.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.