New homeownership scheme announced as part of KiwiBuild reduction in deposit

A progressive home ownership scheme as part of KiwiBuild is part of the Confidence and Supply Agreement with the Green Party.

The Government is taking action to ensure lower and middle-income New Zealanders can buy their own home, with the announcement of an innovative new ownership scheme as part of the KiwiBuild reset and a reduction in the deposit requirement to 5%.

A progressive home ownership scheme as part of KiwiBuild is part of the Confidence and Supply Agreement with the Green Party.

“All three parties in Government, Labour, the Greens, and New Zealand First, are committed to getting more New Zealanders into homeownership with innovative new approaches.

“Building significant numbers of affordable homes is a long-term challenge that will take time, but we can set up new homeownership models and reduce deposit requirements now to make it easier for people to get into their first home,” Housing Minister Megan Woods said.

“We’ve set aside $400 million from the KiwiBuild appropriation for a progressive home ownership scheme, like shared equity, to help more people buy their own home. 

“We campaigned on helping more people into their first home and this new scheme will help struggling families buy a share of a house, reducing both the deposit needed to get a mortgage and their repayments.

“The scheme will mean that over time the family can buy further chunks of the mortgage until they own the home outright.

“We will also be reducing the deposit required for a Government-backed mortgage to 5%, and changing policy settings so that family and friends can each use their $10,000 First Home Grant and their KiwiSavers to buy their first home together.

“Taken together, these changes will help more people access innovative new support to buy a home, and help people who have been locked out of the market,” says Megan Woods.

Green Party Co-leader and housing spokesperson Marama Davidson welcomed the changes.

“We secured a progressive home ownership scheme as part of KiwiBuild when we entered Government and that’s exactly what we’ve seen announced today.

“$400 million will deliver meaningful change for the people who are locked out of homeownership by high rents and low wages.

“Saving a deposit for a home is no longer achievable for many New Zealanders. The way we have approached housing in this country has increasingly locked people out.

“As a Government, we will now be rolling out progressive home ownership schemes, and supporting community housing providers and iwi to deliver progressive homeownership.

This announcement is a great start because it provides a pathway to affordable homeownership for those most in need.

“At the same time, we will continue to build more public houses per year than any Government of the past three decades, and will also be taking steps to rebalance the rental market. This is a significant program of work to truly transform our approach to housing in Aotearoa,” says Marama Davidson.

(With Inputs from New Zealand Government Press Release)