For a generation of New Zealanders who earn enough to live but not enough to save, the dream of home ownership has quietly slipped out of reach — not because of recklessness, but because the rules were written for a world that no longer exists. National's proposal to nearly double the income cap for the First Home Loan scheme is an acknowledgment that middle-income earners — junior doctors, tradespeople, dual-income couples — have been caught between thresholds frozen in 2022 and a cost of living that has not stood still. The policy does not build a single new home, but it would reopen a door
National pledges to triple income cap for first-home buyer scheme to $300k
A junior doctor on $100,000 can't access the scheme
Mark
So the scheme already exists and has helped 33,000 households. What's actually broken about it?
Mimi
The income caps. They haven't moved since 2022, but wages and the cost of living have. A junior doctor making $100,000 is locked out. A couple earning $85,000 and $78,000 combined can't access it. The thresholds are too low for the people who actually need it.
Luke
But wait—if the average first-home buyer earns $146,000, doesn't that mean most people are already close to or above the current cap? How many people are actually being excluded?
Mimi
That's the thing. The cap is $150,000 for individuals, so yes, many are just above it. But the point is they're still struggling to save a 20% deposit. The scheme solves that problem, but the gate keeps them out.
Mark
And National's answer is to raise the cap to $300,000. That's a massive jump. Who does that actually help?
Mimi
Dual-income households, professionals, skilled trades people earning solid money but not wealthy. People who make good income but live in expensive cities and can't accumulate savings fast enough.
Luke
But does raising the income cap actually solve the deposit problem, or does it just let richer people access a subsidy? If someone earns $250,000, do they really need the government to let them put down 5%?
Mimi
That's a fair question. National's argument is that even high earners struggle with deposits because of rent and living costs. But you're right—there's a point where it becomes less about access and more about who gets the benefit.
Mark
What does this actually cost the government?
Luke
The source doesn't say. We know 7,700 applications were approved in nine months, but we don't know the fiscal impact of doubling or tripling the income cap.
Mimi
It's a gap in the reporting. But the policy is clearly aimed at the election—National is saying, we'll make homeownership easier for middle-income earners.
Mark
And the home ownership rate is currently 66%, down from 74%. Is this policy enough to move that needle?
Luke
Almost certainly not on its own. It removes one barrier for one group of people. It doesn't build more houses or make them cheaper. It's one tool in a much larger problem.
El Pulso
- Income caps frozen since 2022 have quietly excluded the very people the scheme was designed to help — professionals and working couples earning decent wages but unable to save a deposit in a high-cost economy.
- The gap between earning and owning has widened into a chasm: a junior doctor on $100,000, two police graduates pooling incomes, a teacher and an electrician together — all locked out by thresholds that no longer reflect real life.
- National is proposing to nearly double the individual cap to $300,000 and triple the single-earner cap from $95,000, a dramatic widening that would bring a much larger share of the workforce inside the scheme's reach.
- First-home buyers already represent 29% of July property purchases — the highest share in more than 20 years — signalling that demand and momentum exist, and that removing the income barrier could accelerate both.
- The ambition behind the policy is larger than the policy itself: lifting New Zealand's home ownership rate from 66% back toward its historic peak of 74%, one unlocked application at a time.
For a generation of New Zealanders who earn enough to live but not enough to save, the dream of home ownership has quietly slipped out of reach — not because of recklessness, but because the rules were written for a world that no longer exists. National's proposal to nearly double the income cap for the First Home Loan scheme is an acknowledgment that middle-income earners — junior doctors, tradespeople, dual-income couples — have been caught between thresholds frozen in 2022 and a cost of living that has not stood still. The policy does not build a single new home, but it would reopen a door that has been narrowing for years, at a moment when first-home buyers are already showing the strongest market presence in over two decades.
Chris Bishop stepped forward with a housing announcement aimed at a quiet but growing problem: thousands of New Zealanders earning reasonable incomes who still cannot save a deposit large enough to buy their first home. The National Party's housing spokesperson declared that, if elected, his party would nearly double the income cap for the First Home Loan scheme — from $150,000 to $300,000 for most buyers, and from $95,000 to $300,000 for single earners without dependants.
The scheme itself has a solid track record. Run through Kāinga Ora and participating lenders since 2003, it allows first-home buyers to enter the market with just a 5% deposit rather than the 20% most banks require. More than 33,000 households have used it over two decades, with over 7,700 applications approved in less than a year. The mechanism works. The problem, National argues, is that the income thresholds have not moved since 2022, while wages, rents, and the cost of living have.
Bishop's examples were pointed: a junior doctor on $100,000 cannot qualify. An electrician and a teacher earning a combined $163,000 cannot qualify. Two police graduates fresh from college, each on $77,000, cannot qualify together. These are not edge cases — the average gross income of first-home buyers in New Zealand already sits around $146,000, meaning many people actively buying their first home are already brushing against the ceiling or excluded entirely.
The real obstacle, Bishop argued, is not income but the deposit. Rent, groceries, childcare, and the ordinary cost of living have hollowed out the savings capacity of young earners who look comfortable on paper but are running hard just to stay in place. The scheme was built to bridge exactly this gap — but the income gates have grown too narrow to let most of them through.
National's proposal would change that significantly, bringing a much wider band of middle-income professionals and dual-income households inside the scheme's reach. The party frames it as part of a broader goal: returning New Zealand's home ownership rate from its current 66% to the 74% peak it once held. With first-home buyers already accounting for 29% of all property purchases in July — the highest monthly share in more than twenty years — the appetite is clearly there. Whether widening the gate will be enough to move the needle will depend on the election outcome, and on what the market does next.
Chris Bishop stood before the cameras with a housing problem that has quietly locked out thousands of New Zealanders from the property market. The National Party's housing spokesperson announced today that if his party wins the coming election, it would nearly double the income cap for the First Home Loan scheme—pushing it from $150,000 to $300,000 for individual buyers, and tripling it to $300,000 for single earners without dependants, who currently max out at $95,000.
The scheme itself is straightforward enough. Administered by Kāinga Ora through participating banks and lenders since 2003, it lets first-home buyers put down just 5% of a property's purchase price instead of the 20% most lenders demand. More than 33,000 households have used it over two decades. Between July 2025 and April of this year alone, Kāinga Ora approved over 7,700 applications. The mechanism works. The problem, National argues, is that the income thresholds haven't budged since 2022, and the world has moved on without them.
Bishop's examples cut to the heart of it. A junior doctor earning $100,000 cannot qualify. A young couple—an electrician at $85,000 and a teacher at $78,000—cannot qualify, even though their combined household income sits well below the current $150,000 cap for individuals. Two friends fresh from police college, each earning $77,000, cannot qualify together. These are not outliers. The average gross income of first-home buyers in New Zealand hovers around $146,000, Bishop noted, which means a significant slice of the people actually buying their first home are already bumping against the ceiling or locked out entirely.
The real barrier, he suggested, is not income but the deposit itself. Rent, food, childcare, and the basic cost of living have consumed the savings capacity of young earners who make decent money on paper. A combined household income of $150,000 sounds substantial until you live it—until you're paying $2,000 a month for a two-bedroom apartment, buying groceries for a family, and trying to scrape together $80,000 or $100,000 for a down payment while your peers in other countries have already bought homes. The scheme exists precisely to solve this problem, but the income gates have become too narrow.
National's proposal would widen those gates dramatically. At $300,000, the cap would encompass a much larger swath of the middle-income workforce—professionals, dual-income households, and skilled trades people who have been shut out by thresholds that no longer reflect either earnings or the cost of living. The party frames this as part of a larger ambition: lifting New Zealand's home ownership rate from its current 66% back to the 74% it reached at its previous peak. First-home buyers already accounted for 29% of all property purchases in July, the highest monthly share in more than two decades, suggesting appetite and activity are there. Removing the income barrier, National believes, would unlock more of it.
The policy is a direct response to a market that has left many wage earners behind. It does not address the underlying cost of housing, nor does it create new supply. It simply says: if you earn more than we thought you would, and you still can't save a deposit, we will let you use this tool. Whether that tool is enough, and whether it will actually move the needle on home ownership, will depend on what happens next—both in the election and in the market itself.
Citas Notables
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 per cent deposit while juggling the cost of rent, food, and childcare.— Chris Bishop, National housing spokesperson
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