First Home Loan
A First Home Loan is a helping hand for first home buyers who don’t have a 20% deposit. They are offered by specific lenders and require certain criteria, mainly house price caps and household income caps.
First Home Loan Criteria
- You must live in the home you are buying. A First Home Loan cannot be used to buy an investment or rental property.
- You cannot own any other property.
- You will need to pay a Lender’s Mortgage Insurance (LMI) premium of 1% of the loan account. The lender may also apply a loan application fee. In most cases these fees can be built into the home loan. Talk to your participating lender to see what applies.
- You are a New Zealand citizen or permanent New Zealand resident or a resident visa holder who is ordinarily resident in New Zealand.
- While an age restricition is not part of the standard eligibility criteria for a First Home Loan, in general participating lenders will require applicants to be a minimum of 18 years of age.
Price Caps
First Home Loans restrict the price you are able to purchase a house for depending on the region you are buying in.
The price caps are as follows:
Region |
House price cap for existing/older properties |
House price cap for new properties |
| Auckland
Queenstown Lakes District Kāpiti Coast District, Porirua City, Upper Hutt City, Hutt City, Wellington City |
$625,000
$600,000 $550,000 |
$700,000
$650,000 $650,000 |
| Hamilton City, Tauranga City, Western Bay of Plenty District, Kapiti Coast District, Porirua City, Upper Hutt City, Hutt City, Wellington City, Tasman District, Nelson City. | $525,000 | $600,000 |
| Waimakariri District, Christchurch City, Selwyn District
Waikato District, Dunedin City Rest of New Zealand |
$500,000
$425,000 $400,000 |
$550,000
$550,000 $500,000 |
Income Caps
The income caps to be being eligible are:
Single Borrower: $95,000 combined household income in the last 12 months.
Two Or More Borrowers: $150,000 combined household income in the last 12 months.
Get some help with your First Home Loan
Our advisors can help you prepare and submit your First Home Loan. For help, please complete the below form.
