You might still be eligible to withdraw your KiwiSaver savings if you've previously owned a house or land.

To qualify, you have to meet the Kainga Ora criteria.

Make an initial application to Kainga Ora, including:

• Details of your income and assets.
• First home grant from KiwiSaver 

You might also be eligible for a grant if you've been a regular contributor to KiwiSaver. Kainga Ora administers the grant.

Whether you are buying an existing home or building a new home will determine the amount of the grant.

Here's what you might get:

• If you're buying an existing home, you'll get $1,000 a year for every year you've been a KiwiSaver member, up to a maximum of $5,000.
• If you're buying a new home, a property bought off the plans, or land for a new built home, you'll get $2,000 a year for every year you've been a KiwiSaver member, up to a maximum of $10,000.

Kainga Ora can tell you if you're eligible for the KiwiSaver First Home Grant (income, house price caps, etc.).

Visit Kainga Ora's website at kaingaora.govt.nz/homeownership for more info

Providing they meet the first home withdrawal criteria:

• they've been in KiwiSaver for three years,
• haven't made a first home withdrawal before,
• the home is going to be their principal family home,
• they haven't owned the land before.

A member can make a first home withdrawal, and the trust can use the money for the purchase. On the Sale and Purchase Agreement, the trustee must be named.

A member of a trust that owns a property can make a first home withdrawal (even though they legally own land as a trustee) if they have no reasonable expectation of occupying the trust's property until the occupant or their survivor dies. In other words, if you're not the occupant of the trust's property, you're not considered to own it.

If a member is only a settlor or beneficiary of a trust that owns a property (and not a trustee of that trust), the trust is irrelevant and the normal first home withdrawal criteria apply.