first home buyer

PHOTO: First home buyer. GETTY

An Auckland first home buyer is over the moon about becoming a homeowner, using KiwiSaver and the First Home Grant towards her deposit.

Single first home-buyers earning up to $95,000 per year, who are KiwiSaver members for a minimum of three years, can get $5000 free from the Government to buy a home. The home must also be within the house price cap set for the region – $625,000 for an existing home in Auckland.

Realestate.co.nz data shows the average asking price in Auckland reached $1.099 million in April, and for first home-buyer Shirley, finding a home within the price cap wasn’t easy.

In April, after around five months of searching, she bought a two-bedroom terrace townhouse in Onehunga for $625,000 – just enough to get the $5000 First Home Grant.

“After all the auctions I’d gone to, I didn’t know it was possible…when the agent called to say the offer had been accepted, I was so over the moon,” Shirley said.

Her deposit of $125,000 included $25,000 from her KiwiSaver and $5000 from the First Home Grant.

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