The “First Home Grant” (Also was known as the HomeStart Grant) is a grant the NZ government can provide, to help a couple get up to $20,000 when buying a home to live in. This is subject to criteria.
The government’s “First Home Grant” can give you extra money toward your home purchase. There is strict criteria however, including but not limited to: a limit on how much the home may cost, how much income you may be earning, and how long you’ve `been regularly contributing to KiwiSaver for.
This is a grant, so if you got it legitimately, you do not need to pay it back.
You can learn more about this at Kainga Ora’s website.
There are different requirements which are not all fully captured in this page. Some of them may include:
- The property house price being below the regional cap amount
- The income being under the cap
- Not currently owning any property
- Have been contributing at least the minimum amount to KiwiSaver for 3 years or more
These may be subject to change and additional criteria may exist and may be apply differently.