Guide
Using KiwiSaver for your first home: rules, timing and amounts
For most first-home buyers, KiwiSaver is the biggest single source of deposit money outside savings — and record numbers are using it that way. Over 50,000 members withdrew a combined $2.2 billion for first homes in the year to June 2026, according to the Financial Markets Authority. Here is exactly how the withdrawal works, what you can take, and how to time it with your purchase.
Last checked September 2026
What you can withdraw — and the one thing you cannot
The first-home withdrawal is unusually generous compared with every other early access type. You can take everything in the account: your own contributions, your employer's contributions, every government contribution you have received, and all the investment earnings. The single exception is the original $1,000 government kick-start, which stays in the scheme.
That matters for planning. A member who has contributed at 3.5% for a decade on a $70,000 salary typically finds their KiwiSaver balance is larger than their cash savings — which is why the fund you are in, and its fees, matter to your house deposit as much as to your retirement.
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The three-year rule
You must have been a KiwiSaver member for at least three years before you can make a first-home withdrawal. The clock starts when you first joined — including any period as a non-contributing member — not when you started working or contributing.
If you joined through an employer after starting a new job, check your joining date rather than assuming. It is one of the few dates that can quietly change when you can buy, and it is worth confirming with your provider early in your planning.
What counts as a first home
The property must be one you intend to live in as your main home — not a rental, holiday home or land investment, and not for a family trust or company you own. Buying your first rental with KiwiSaver is not allowed under this withdrawal.
There is no upper price limit on the property for the withdrawal itself. If you have owned a home before, you can still apply under the second-chance exemption if you no longer own any property and your finances are in a similar position to a first-home buyer. Providers assess these case by case.
The First Home Grant no longer exists
A common source of confusion: the government's First Home Grant — the $5,000 to $10,000 top-up administered by Kāinga Ora — was closed in 2024 and is no longer available for new applications. Some older articles still describe it, so if you read about a grant, check the date.
What remains is the KiwiSaver withdrawal itself, your own savings, and whatever lending a bank will offer. That makes the size of your KiwiSaver balance, your contribution rate, and the fund it sits in more important than they were when the grant topped things up.
How to apply, and timing it with settlement
You apply to your KiwiSaver provider once you have a property under way — a signed sale-and-purchase agreement is the usual trigger, and some providers will start the process with an unconditional offer. You will need the agreement, ID, your bank details, and typically a statutory declaration that the property will be your main home.
Most providers pay first-home withdrawals within 10 to 15 working days, but settlement does not wait. Tell your lawyer early that deposit funds are coming from KiwiSaver, apply the day your offer is accepted, and build the processing time into your settlement date. Rushed withdrawals are the single most common cause of settlement-day stress for first-home buyers.
Two practical details: apply in your exact bank account name, since name mismatches are the top cause of delays — and if two people are buying together, both apply to their own providers separately; each withdrawal is individual.
Planning the deposit: the three levers you control
If your balance will not reach a deposit when you want to buy, three things move it: your contribution rate, the fund type you sit in, and time. Stepping from 3.5% to 6% adds both your own money and a larger employer match. A growth fund instead of a conservative one historically grows faster over a decade-plus — with more ups and downs on the way. And buying six months later adds another six months of contributions and returns.
The trade-off between risk and timing is personal. A common approach: stay in a higher-growth fund while the purchase is more than a few years out, then review as the target year approaches.
Model your deposit year with our first-home toolFund types explained