An extra 520 Tauranga residents could be helped into their first home each year under proposed National changes to how KiwiSaver could be used to buy a house.
Tauranga MP and National Party candidate Simon Bridges said the party's HomeStart package would help people throughout the country to be able to afford to buy their first home.
"The increase is illustrated in Tauranga where last year 179 people received assistance under the KiwiSaver First Home Withdrawal subsidy. Home Start is estimated to lift this to 3500 over the next five years," Mr Bridges said.
For Vicki and Stefan Nogaj the package would be enough for a deposit to build their first house. The Nogajs, who have three children, have been saving for about five years and have been members of KiwiSaver for almost four.
They are currently eligible for an $8000 grant but under the new scheme would get $16,000.
"It actually gives us the option to look at a plot of land, build a house in a good area and still survive," he said. "We've been pre-approved for quite a long time, but with the amount we're looking at, around $270,000, it doesn't really put us in good areas and it puts us in a three-bedroom home but we need to be looking at four bedrooms."
Tauranga Generation Homes owner Lyndon Marshall said the package would benefit first-home buyers and builders.
"We do get first-home buyers that we can't help because they don't have enough for a deposit.
"It's a $20,000 grant [for a couple]. It will certainly help some of the first-home buyers that we've turned away."
Most of the homes the company built were priced between $420,000 and $480,000 meaning the limit of $450,000 for Tauranga and the Western Bay was achievable, Mr Marshall said.
Mayor Stuart Crosby agreed the scheme would have a positive influence. "There is no doubt that in Tauranga housing affordability for first-home buyers is an issue," he said. "The HomeStart programme will certainly assist a huge number of first-home buyers to get into their own home."
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Dave Burnett agreed affordability was an issue and the plan would help. "If this helps people get on to the housing ladder that is good."
Home Start
- A grant of $10,000 per person (or $20,000 for a couple) to build a first home if you have been in Kiwisaver for five years.
- The house price is capped at $450,000 in Tauranga and the Western Bay.
- The first-home buyer can withdraw all his or her KiwiSaver funds except the Government's $1000 kickstart contribution.