![\"Housing](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788689292_6_4JOA5Y9_Image_165_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nNational is promising to help more people buy their first home by expanding access to the government’s low-deposit scheme, if it’s re-elected.<\/p>\n
The existing First Home Loan scheme run by K\u0101inga Ora allows buyers to purchase their first home with a 5 percent deposit, rather than 20 percent which most banks require.<\/p>\n
If elected, National would increase the income threshold so anyone earning less than $300,000 combined could access it – whether that was single income or combined income.<\/p>\n
Housing spokesperson Chris Bishop said many would-be first home buyers could afford to service a mortgage, but struggled to get together a deposit.<\/p>\n
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Chris Bishop.<\/p>\n
RNZ \/ Mark Papalii<\/p>\n
The scheme’s current cap of $95,000 for single buyers with no dependents, or $150,000 for multiple buyers or single buyers with dependents, was too restrictive, he said.<\/p>\n
The caps were last updated in 2022.<\/p>\n
“Right now, a junior doctor on $100,000 can’t access the scheme. Nor can a young couple, like an electrician on $85,000 and a teacher on $78,000, or two friends who have just graduated from police college and are earning $77,000 each,” he said.<\/p>\n
Around half of first-home buyers earned more than $146,000, said Bishop.<\/p>\n
“So, while a combined income of $150,000 might sound like a lot of money, the reality is that plenty of young couples now earn more than that but still struggle to save for a 20 percent deposit while juggling the cost of rent, food, and childcare.<\/p>\n
“National’s changes will address those pressures and build on the work we have done in government to support more people into home ownership.”<\/p>\n
The loans are issued by some banks and other lenders, and underwritten by K\u0101inga Ora, allowing lenders to provide loans it otherwise would not.<\/p>\n