KiwiBuild: affordable homes for first home buyers. The first homes are ready - what you need to know…

You may have heard “KiwiBuild” being discussed in the news lately and wondered what it is all about.

KiwiBuild is a Government initiative to build 100,000 starter homes for first home buyers over the next ten years.  It is intended that these homes will be affordable for first home buyers who have not been able to get into the housing market. 

Approximately 50,000 of the KiwiBuild homes will be built in Auckland, with the rest built in other areas where there is a high demand for housing (including Wellington, Hamilton, Napier-Hastings, Queenstown-Lakes District, Tauranga, Whangarei District and Nelson-Tasman).

Who can buy a KiwiBuild home?

To be eligible to buy a Kiwibuild home, you must:

• Be a first home buyer (or a ‘second chancer’ who is in a similar financial position to a first home buyer, no longer owns a home, and meets the KiwiSaver Home Start Grant asset test).

• Be a New Zealand citizen, permanent resident, or a resident visa holder who is ordinarily resident in New Zealand.

• Meet the income requirements - have an income of no more than $120,000 for a single buyer, or no more than $180,000 for more than one buyer (such as a couple).

• Intend to own the home for at least three years.

• Intend to live in the home as your main place of residence for at least three years.

Pre-qualifying for a KiwiBuild home

If you meet the above criteria, you can pre-qualify to show that you are eligible and could buy a KiwiBuild home.  Pre-qualifying means you need to provide:

• Proof of residency;
• Proof of income;
• A statutory declaration signed by an authorised person (e.g. a Justice of the Peace or lawyer); and
• Financial pre-approval from a bank or lender.

There is no hurry to pre-qualify if you will be wanting to buy a KiwiBuild home in one of the areas where construction has not started or been completed yet.  Your income could change between now and then, and your bank or lender may not be willing to give pre-approval too far in advance.

In the meantime, you can visit the MBIE website to register your interest so that you will be kept up to date with how the project is progressing.

The first KiwiBuild homes

The first 18 KiwiBuild homes have been completed in Papakura, Auckland at the McLennan Development.  A total of 88 are to be built in the Development by the end of 2019. 

The Development’s show home was open for prospective buyers to visit and find out more throughout September 2018.

The ballot for the first 18 homes opened on 10 September 2018, and closed on 5 October 2018.  As with all KiwiBuild homes to come, prospective buyers enter a ballot for any or all of the available homes, although if successful they will only be able to purchase one home. 

Once drawn in the ballot as a buyer, it is expected that each purchase will proceed in the normal way between the developer and buyer.

For more information about KiwiBuild visit https://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/kiwibuild.




Laurie Pallett
Senior Registered Legal Executive
Wellington