CHANGES TO THE GOVERNMENT’S FIRST HOME GRANT

Mortgage Market with Nikki

Government recently announced changes to some of the home ownership products and programmes administered by Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities that will take effect from 15 May 2023.

Meeting with a mortgage adviser

By introducing changes to the First Home Grant, Government hopes to make it easier for first home buyers to build new homes or buy newly built homes. Read on to find out what the changes are as well as the opportunities these changes could present to first home buyers looking to build new or buy new.

The first meeting is a bit like a “meet and greet” chance for to get to know each other We’ll go o your goals, talk about the type of property you w to buy, and assess how much you have to spend We’ll also give you an indication of which lende think would be right for you, and let you know if you ’ re ready to buy now or if you need to boost deposit, pay down some debt, or bump up your savings ahead of your application We can answ any questions, help you prepare a solid home lo application, and present it to the right lender.

Changes to the First Home Grant

• First Home Grant house price caps will be adjusted in several areas to align with the current market.

• The minimum new build house price cap for the First Home Grant will be lifted from $500,000 to $650,000, to reflect the rising cost of construction.

• View the updated First Home Grant house price caps here.

Changes to the First Home Loan

• First Home Loan borrowers are charged an insurance premium to cover the cost of underwriting their low-deposit loan. This insurance premium will halve from 1% to 0.5%, reducing costs that are passed on to borrowers.

• For example, someone with a mortgage of $600,000 will now pay $3,000 towards the insurance premium, instead of $6,000.

Changes to KiwiBuild

Getting a pre-approval

• The three-bedroom price cap for KiwiBuild homes in the Queenstown Lakes District will increase from $845,000 to $860,000, to reflect the current market.

Before you start house-hunting, it’s a good idea get mortgage pre-approval With a mortgage pr approval, you’ll know how much a lender is prepared to lend to you provided certain condit are met So you won’t waste time looking at properties you can’t afford to buy!

• Elsewhere, the three-bedroom KiwiBuild price cap for Hamilton, Christchurch, and places outside of the main urban areas has increased slightly by $5,000.

Crunching your numbers

We can use our easy loan tools to make understanding your finances easier

• View the updated KiwiBuild price caps here.

Home Loan Repayment Calculator

To find out how much you could borrow and wh your repayments could look like using different interest rates, loan terms, and repayment frequencies

• Kāinga Ora administers a range of home ownership products on behalf of the Government. Further information and resources - including an interactive decision tool, eligibility criteria and how to apply - can be found under Home Ownership.

Extra Repayment Calculator

Find out how much you could save on interest w an extra repayment to your home loan Test var amounts to see how you could shorten your loa term and reduce your interest charges

Split Loan Calculator

Work out your repayments when splitting part o your mortgage. You can also adjust the fixed rat portion to calculate various levels of savings