Using KiwiSaver to help buy your first home 13 Nov 2015

So you have found a house you want to purchase and put an offer in, with assumption you can use your KiwiSaver funds. There are a few points to note with regards to using your KiwiSaver funds for your first home purchase. Read through the points below. There have been cases where purchasers have had to pull out of the deal because they were unable to use the funds they thought were available.

From receipt of the appropriate paperwork (after an Agreement has been confirmed unconditional) it can take Kiwisaver providers up to 10 working days to process the application and make the funds available to you.  This is important when agreeing to payment of the deposit and working out settlement dates because if you do not provide sufficient time you may be left unable to pay the deposit when it is due or be unable to settle.  At worst, non-payment of a deposit can mean that the agreement will be cancelled by the seller.

You need to be in KiwiSaver for three years and be over the age of 18 before you can use the funds to purchase a property. The grant is administered by Housing New Zealand and will be paid to your solicitor.

The two grants available are:

• For purchasing an existing home, the grant is between $3,000 and $5,000 based on $1,000 each year of KiwiSaver membership.
• For building or purchasing a new home, or for purchasing land to build a new home on, the grant is, in effect doubled to, $2,000 per year of membership in the scheme, up to a maximum of $10,000 for five years for each member.

You cannot use the KiwiSaver grants for an investment property. You must plan on living in the property for a minimum of six months.

Should you have any further questions regarding KiwiSaver, give us a call at KiwiSelect and we will endeavour to answer them for you.