These come into effect 1st April 2015. Changes and amendments to KiwiSaver will affect both the first home withdrawal entitlement from a Kiwisaver account and the separate first home subsidy administered by Housing New Zealand.

Until now if you were to buy your first home and access your KiwiSaver funds there has been a limit on what you could withdraw. You have only been able to withdraw:

• Your own contributions. 

• Your employer’s contributions.

• Any investment returns from those contributions.

From April 1 2015, having been a KiwiSaver member and contributor for 3 continuous years or more, you can now also withdraw the annual member tax credits of $521.43 per annum. The only portion you cannot withdraw is the initial Kick-start payment of $1,000 made by the Government. This provides you access to more of your funds allowing you (or your offspring) greater opportunity to get into the property market.

The other significant change that impacts home owners is that from 1 April 2015 the first home subsidy will be replaced with a new Kiwisaver Home Start Grant.

The Home Start Grant allows people buying a newly built home to access double the previous subsidy. This should stimulate some property growth with increased lending for new housing construction. Remember this is for FIRST HOME BUYERS and provides another option to assist with home ownership.

The existing Grant will remain unchanged from the current First Home Subsidy for persons purchasing an existing home.

The house price cap levels for Home Start Grants and Welcome Home Loans have also been increased to be more in line with actual property prices.

• Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington and Christchurch are now capped at $450,000

• Auckland - $550,000. 

• Most other areas - $350,000. 

The Home Start Grant and Welcome Home Loans are NZ Government subsidy programmes that perhaps aren’t as widely advertised or understood as they should be.

Our job is to see if these programmes can offer you or someone you know the assistance they need to get into their first home. To find out more about these programmes contact Wayne