First Home buyers can withdraw some of their Kiwisaver savings to go towards their deposit on their first home as long as they have been a Kiwisaver member for at least 3 years
Simplicity Kiwisaver fund is looking to help first home buyers more by offering to write mortgages at 2.95%.
Most banks at the time of writing are offering mortgages around 3.5%, so a loan from Simplicity will save you 0.5% per annum. So for a $500,000 mortgage, you are looking to save $2500 each year.
What are the terms and conditions?
Well first you have to be a first home buyer so that eliminates all those borrowers who already have a property.
Secondly, you have to be a member of the Simplicity Kiwisaver fund to be eligible.
Thirdly, if demand is too high, a ballot will be drawn to decide who gets the mortgage.
The good news is it creates competition for the banks and also the mortgage will be a floating rate mortgage meaning if you get a pay rise or a bonus you can pay off some of your principal without getting penalised.