Buying your first home
From "can we even afford this" to a signed agreement, in the order the decisions actually arrive.
Ends with: A deposit target and a repayment figure you can live with.
Most people meet these decisions in a jumbled order. They start by looking at houses, which is roughly step eleven of sixteen, and work backwards from whatever they fall in love with. That is how people end up viewing homes they were never going to be lent the money for, or discovering a problem on their credit file three days before an unconditional deadline.
The sequence below is the one that saves money and disappointment. Work out whether buying suits you at all, because renting is not automatically the worse deal and the answer depends on how long you will stay. Then find out what a bank will actually lend you, which is a different number from the one you would lend yourself. Then work out how the deposit gets there and how long that takes. Only then start looking, because now you know what you are looking at.
The middle of the pathway is the part nobody enjoys and everybody needs: LVR, pre-approval, and the difference between fixed and floating. These decide your interest rate and whether the bank says yes, and they are worth an hour of reading against a thirty year loan. The last five steps are the purchase itself, from reading a LIM through to settlement, in the order those documents actually land in front of you.
Every step is a guide you can read in a few minutes, with a calculator beside it wherever there is a number worth working out with your own figures rather than an example. Nothing here is financial advice, and none of it replaces a lawyer or a mortgage adviser. It is the map, so that when you talk to them you already know which questions matter.
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Should you buy at all
Buying is not automatically better than renting. Settle this before you spend a year saving for the wrong goal.
Work out your own: Rent vs Buy Calculator 8 min read -
What a bank will actually lend you
Your budget and the bank's are different numbers, and the bank's is the one that decides. Everything after this depends on it.
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Saving the deposit
Now you know the target. This is how long it takes at your current savings rate, and what actually shortens it.
Work out your own: Savings Goal Calculator 9 min read -
Using your KiwiSaver
For most first buyers this is the largest single part of the deposit. Check what you can take out and what has to stay behind.
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The First Home Loan, and the grant that ended
A 5 per cent deposit route still exists if you meet the income and price caps. The separate First Home Grant closed on 22 May 2024, so do not budget for it.
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Check your credit report
Do this before you apply, not after. An error on your file takes weeks to correct and can cost you a purchase in the meantime.
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Getting pre-approved
Nothing before this is real to a seller, and nothing after it happens without one. Note the expiry date the day you get it.
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Understanding LVR
One ratio decides your interest rate, whether you pay a low equity premium, and whether the bank says yes at all.
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The LVR speed limits
Why a bank can approve you in principle and still decline the loan, and what deposit each band actually requires.
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Fixed, floating or split
The first real choice you make with your own money on the line. Compare the repayment, not just the headline rate.
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Reading a LIM report
You are looking at actual houses now. The LIM is where the council has written down the problems.
9 min read -
The builder's report
What is worth walking away from, and what is just an old house being an old house. Budget for more than one.
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Making a conditional offer
Your conditions are your only way out. Get them right before you sign, because you cannot add one afterwards.
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The sale and purchase agreement
The document that binds you. Know what you are signing, and what has to be in the bank by settlement day.
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Auction, deadline or tender
Each has different rules about conditions and cooling off. At auction there are none, and you need the cash on the day.
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The legal process to settlement
What your lawyer does, what you have to do, and when the money actually moves.
When to stop and get someone else
A lawyer is not optional for a purchase in New Zealand, and you want one reading the sale and purchase agreement before you sign it, not after. A mortgage adviser costs you nothing directly and will know which lenders currently suit your situation. Neither is replaced by anything on this page.
This pathway is information, not financial advice. Rates, thresholds and rules change; every guide carries the date it was last reviewed.
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