National pledges to make it easier for first-home buyers to get 5% deposits
The New Zealand National Party has pledged to expand access to the First Home Loan scheme by raising the income cap to $300,000. The policy aims to help more young professionals secure 5% deposit mortgages to increase national home-ownership rates.
Why it matters
This policy proposal addresses housing affordability and the financial barriers faced by middle-to-high income earners in the current property market.
The National Party is promising to increase first-home buyers’ access to low-deposit mortgages if elected, which it says will help more people become owners.
Announcing the policy this morning, leader Christopher Luxon and housing spokesman Chris Bishop said the policy would help National achieve its goal of increasing home-ownership rates back to their historical peak when about 74% of households owned their home.
That milestone was reached in the early 1990s.
The home-ownership rate has fallen to about 66% today, although the housing crash has enabled large numbers of first-home buyers to snap up houses.
Bishop said National will widen access to 5% deposits by extending the income cap under an existing First Home Loan scheme to $300,000.
The Government has run the In Reach loan scheme since 2003. It became the First Home Loan scheme in 2019 and is administered through Kāinga Ora.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in