Haven | Should you use KiwiSaver to buy a first home?

KiwiSaver Mortgages

Should you use KiwiSaver to buy a first home?

3 MIN READ November 6, 2019

It seems to be a given now that those looking to purchase their first home will use their KiwiSaver savings to help – and this isn’t surprising given the current average house prices in New Zealand. But it’s important to know just what exactly you’re…

Pros

If you’re in your 20s or 30s, using your KiwiSaver savings to help purchase your first home can put you in good stead to be mortgage-free before you hit retirement – definitely the ideal situation as New Zealand’s superannuation system was created based on the premise that people would own their own homes at the point of retirement.

If you’re eligible to withdraw your KiwiSaver savings to use for your first home, you’ll be able to access the value of your savings as well as your employer contributions and any returns and tax credits you’ve accumulated.

KiwiSaver also has a few great initiatives that can be used to help first home buyers get their foot in the door. If you’re eligible for the Welcome Home loan scheme, you only need a 5% deposit to purchase your home. You may also be eligible for a KiwiSaver HomeStart Grant of up to $5,000 per person for an older property or $10,000 per person for a new build.

Most first-home buyers put a lot of effort into saving for a deposit, and this includes potentially increasing their KiwiSaver contribution rate to help accumulate the funds. Because they’re in such a good habit of saving and contributing, it’s likely to be quite easy to get back on track for their retirement savings after withdrawing for a first home.

Cons

One of the biggest concerns about using KiwiSaver for your first home is that its purpose is predominantly to help you have a good nest egg when you retire and that withdrawing early may compromise that.

If you start saving when you’re 18 years old but then withdraw your balance at 30, you’ll need to start from scratch again, which means you may end up with less overall come retirement.

Because a mortgage is often quite a large financial commitment, there is also the concern that if you withdraw your KiwiSaver savings to help you out, you may feel as though you can’t afford to keep contributing to it once you begin your mortgage payments. This means that you won’t necessarily be able to retire comfortably when you need to.

If you’re in your 50s and you’re using KiwiSaver to buy a first home, you’ll likely have accumulated quite a large amount that will go a long way to helping you out with your mortgage. This does mean that you likely won’t have much at all come retirement however, so you’d need to factor that in.

Conclusion

KiwiSaver can be a great (and often necessary) means of helping you get into your first home, but it’s important to keep contributing as much as you can once you’ve withdrawn your savings. It’s helpful that we can use our savings for a first home, but we also need to remember that it’s first and foremost for our retirement.

Make sure you consider all aspects of withdrawing for a first home, including how much you’d like to have when you retire, how much of it you need now for your first home, and how much you will keep contributing to it.

If you’d like to have a chat about using your KiwiSaver for your first home, get in touch with our friendly mortgage team today.

Related resources

KiwiSaver

A guide to KiwiSaver for kids

3 MIN READ

There are many reasons parents explore KiwiSaver for their children, including helping to grow their…

Read article

KiwiSaver

5 ways to make the most of KiwiSaver when living…

3 MIN READ

Here are 5 ways to start making the most of KiwiSaver when the cost of…

Read article

KiwiSaver

Take control of your KiwiSaver in 2023

2 MIN READ

If one of your goals this year is to get your finances sorted, make sure…

Read article

Are you ready to get started?

Fill out your details below and someone from our friendly team will be in touch soon.

"*" indicates required fields

Terms & Conditions

Eligibility.
The Haven My Food Bag Promotion is only open to legal residents of New Zealand who are eighteen (18) years of age or older.To be eligible for the prize you must have a delivery address within the My Food Bag delivery area. My Food Bag delivers to most addresses in the postcodes found here.
Disqualified Participants’ are: (a) all Haven Financial Advisers employees (b) all people under the age of 18 years (c) all people without a qualifying delivery address.
Competition Period.
The Competition begins on Monday 3rd July 2023 to Saturday 30th September 2023.
How To Enter.Complete a financial review with any of Haven’s advisers for any service during the entry period and you will receive one entry into the Competition.
Or,
Refer someone else to complete a financial review with any of Haven’s advisers for any service during the entry period and if they complete the review you will receive one entry each into the Competition.
Drawing the Winners
We will select 3 winners. The final winners will be drawn on Monday 2nd October via random selection by Haven Financial Advisers.Only the person who originally entered the Promotion can be awarded the prize.
The Winners will be determined by Haven Financial Advisers and will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
The Winners will be notified by email, phone (voice or text), mail or in person. Where attempts to contact a Winner fail (e.g. when the Winner cannot be contacted by phone after three attempts or mail sent is returned) Haven Financial Advisers will select another winner. If, after successful notification, the prize is not collected within two months of being announced, it will be regarded as forfeit. (Note: 3 attempts to contact the Winner will include individual calls to any numbers provided at the time of entry.
Where the Winner is required to claim the prize in person, they must provide proper identification (eg driver’s licence, passport, birth certificate).
The Prizes
The Prizes (8 weekly My Choice (4 nights for 4) My Food Bag deliveries) are not redeemable for cash or transferable. In the event that the Prize specified in the Competition becomes unavailable for any reason, Haven Financial Advisers may substitute a prize of like or equal value.In order to claim the prize the winner will need to sign up to the My Food Bag website to manage their deliveries. In order to sign up a credit or debit card will need to be added to the account for any upgrades or additional grocery items beyond the Prize.
The Winner takes the Prize entirely at his/her own risk and indemnifies Haven Financial Advisers in respect of any claim for any accident, injury, property damage or loss of life that may occur in connection with the prize. The Winner is responsible for all insurance, tax or other costs that may be associated with the Prize. Where the Prize has associated terms and conditions the Winner accepts the Prize subject to those terms and conditions and restrictions.
The Prize must be taken as stated and no compensation will be payable if the Winner is unable to use the Prize as stated.
The Promoter (Haven Financial Advisers Limited) will not be liable for any prize(s) that do not reach the winners for reasons beyond the Promoter’s reasonable control. Where a prize is being supplied by a third party, the Promoter accepts no responsibility in connection with the provision of the prize, including without limitation, the failure of the winner to receive ownership of, or use of, the prize or any performance issues associated with the prize.
The Promoter will not be liable for failure to provide (or delay in providing) the Prize resulting from any events, circumstances or causes beyond its reasonable control, including but not limited to acts of god (natural disasters), acts of war or terrorism, national emergencies, issues of public health and safety, pandemic, mechanical breakdown, industry disputes, riots or failure of communication or power supply or voluntary or involuntary compliance with any regulation, law or order of any government.
Prizes may be subject to additional terms and conditions imposed by a third party.
The Promoter will not be responsible for any loss or damage suffered by entrants or anyone else as a result of, arising out of, or in any way connected with the Promotion or its prizes.
Social Media & Marketing
Where the Promotion is conducted across social media: a. Entrants’ conduct must comply with the rules of that social media platform. b. The Promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat. These social media platforms are in no way responsible for any aspect of the Promotion.By entering this Promotion, entrants agree to the use of their names, photographs and likeness for promotional/advertising purposes, and agree to make themselves reasonably available for this purpose. Any copyright associated with an entry will be owned by the Promoter.
The Promoter collects and holds personal information provided by entrants for the purposes of administering this Promotion and for future Promoter promotional purposes. All personal information provided by entrants will be held by the Promoter and will not be provided to third parties unless otherwise specifically set out. Under the Privacy Act 2020, entrants have the right to access and correct their personal information.

Terms & Conditions

1. Eligibility.

The Haven Travel Promotion is only open to legal residents of New Zealand who are eighteen (18) years of age or older.

Disqualified Participants’ are: (a) all Haven Financial Advisers employees (b) all people under the age of 18 years.

2. Competition Period.

The Competition begins on Monday 13th March 2023 to Wednesday 31st May 2023.

3. How To Enter.

Complete a financial review with any of Haven’s advisers for any service during the entry period and you will receive one entry into the Competition.

4. Drawing the Winner

The final winner will be drawn on Monday 5th June via random selection by Haven Financial Advisers.

Only the person who originally entered the Promotion can be awarded the prize.
The Winner will be determined by Haven Financial Advisers and will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
The Winner will be notified by email, phone (voice or text), mail or in person. Where attempts to contact the Winner fail (eg when the Winner cannot be contacted by phone after three attempts or mail sent is returned) Haven Financial Advisers will select another winner. If, after successful notification, the prize is not collected within two months of being announced, it will be regarded as forfeit. (Note: 3 attempts to contact the Winner will include individual calls to any numbers provided at the time of entry.
Where the Winner is required to claim the prize in person, they must provide proper identification (eg driver’s licence, passport, birth certificate).

5. The Prize

The Prize (a travel voucher valued at $4,000 NZD) is not redeemable for cash or transferable. In the event that the Prize specified in the Competition becomes unavailable for any reason, Haven Financial Advisers may substitute a prize of like or equal value.
The Winner takes the Prize entirely at his/her own risk and indemnifies Haven Financial Advisers in respect of any claim for any accident, injury, property damage or loss of life that may occur in connection with the prize. The Winner is responsible for all insurance, tax or other costs that may be associated with the Prize. Where the Prize has associated terms and conditions the Winner accepts the Prize subject to those terms and conditions and restrictions.
The Prize must be taken as stated and no compensation will be payable if the Winner is unable to use the Prize as stated.
The Promoter (Haven Financial Advisers Limited) will not be liable for any prize(s) that do not reach the winners for reasons beyond the Promoter’s reasonable control. Where a prize is being supplied by a third party, the Promoter accepts no responsibility in connection with the provision of the prize, including without limitation, the failure of the winner to receive ownership of, or use of, the prize or any performance issues associated with the prize.
The Promoter will not be liable for failure to provide (or delay in providing) the Prize resulting from any events, circumstances or causes beyond its reasonable control, including but not limited to acts of god (natural disasters), acts of war or terrorism, national emergencies, issues of public health and safety, pandemic, mechanical breakdown, industry disputes, riots or failure of communication or power supply or voluntary or involuntary compliance with any regulation, law or order of any government.
Prizes may be subject to additional terms and conditions imposed by a third party (for example, vouchers may have additional terms and conditions and/or an expiry date or in the case of travel, additional terms and conditions may be imposed by airlines, service providers and venues).
The Promoter will not be responsible for any loss or damage suffered by entrants or anyone else as a result of, arising out of, or in any way connected with the Promotion or its prizes.

6. Social Media & Marketing

Where the Promotion is conducted across social media: a. Entrants’ conduct must comply with the rules of that social media platform. b. The Promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat. These social media platforms are in no way responsible for any aspect of the Promotion.
By entering this Promotion, entrants agree to the use of their names, photographs and likeness for promotional/advertising purposes, and agree to make themselves reasonably available for this purpose. Any copyright associated with an entry will be owned by the Promoter.
The Promoter collects and holds personal information provided by entrants for the purposes of administering this Promotion and for future Promoter promotional purposes. All personal information provided by entrants will be held by the Promoter and will not be provided to third parties unless otherwise specifically set out. Under the Privacy Act 2020, entrants have the right to access and correct their personal information.