Want to use your kiwisaver to purchase a house, and have owned a property previously? If you meet the criteria then you may be able to withdraw your kiwisaver.
To do this you must make an application to Housing New Zealand (HNZ) to determine whether you meet the criteria. The criteria is to assess whether you are in the same financial position as a first home buyer.
Criteria
The criteria determining if a previous home owner can qualify under the first-home withdrawal are as follows:
- You have not previously withdrawn your KiwiSaver funds to buy a home;
- You have been a contributing member of KiwiSaver for at least three years;
- You have previously owned property, but no longer own any interest/share in property;
- You do not have realisable assets totalling more than 20% of the house price cap for an existing/older property in the area that you are looking to buy in. The Invercargill price cap is $400,000.00
Realisable assets
Realisable assets include:
- Money in bank accounts (including fixed and term deposits)
- Shares, stocks and bonds
- Investments in banks or financial institutions
- Building society shares
- Any money paid to, or held by, the real estate agent or solicitor as a deposit on the property
- A boat or caravan (if the value is over $5,000)
- Additional vehicles (such as classic motorbikes or cars – not being used as your usual method of transport)
- Other individual assets valued over $5,000
If you are also looking to get the home start grant, this is a separate application, which has an income cap of $85,000.00 as an individual or combined $130,000.00
