Changes announced for First Home Products
Published 26 Apr 23
The Government has today announced changes to some of the home ownership products, enabling more New Zealanders to access support to purchase their first home.
The changes were announced as part of a six-month review of First Home Products and KiwiBuild and involve the First Home Grant and First Home Loan.
House price caps for the First Home Grant have increased for many places throughout the country, to align with the current market.
Changes to the First Home Grant take effect 15 May 2023. Changes to the First Home Loan are expected to take effect from 1 June 2023.
Changes to First Home Grant:
- Updating First Home Grant house price caps where they would increase to align with current lower-quartile market values.
- Increasing the minimum new build house price cap from $500,000 to $650,000, which will increase caps in 31 Territorial Local Authorities. This changes reflects increasing cost of construction in the current market.
Changes to the First Home Loan:
- Reducing the First Home Loan insurance premium and updating both the Crown and borrower contributions.
- The total premium amount will reduce from 2.2 percent of the borrower’s total loan balance to 1.2 percent.
- The premium currently consists of a 1.0 percent contribution from the borrower, and 1.2 percent from the Crown. Once changes are in effect, there will be a 0.5 percent contribution from the borrower, and a 0.7 percent Crown contribution.
Further information on the changes can be found on the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development website(external link) and on the beehive.govt.nz website(external link).
