How much can I borrow?
A rough borrowing limit from your own numbers, the price range it opens up, and a check on what stands between you and buying. Nothing is saved or sent.
How much could I borrow?
- A 12% deposit: under 20%, so it is low-deposit lending, which banks ration and may price higher.
- KiwiSaver could release about $39,000 (the balance less $1,000).
- Repayments would take 51% of take-home pay at today’s rate, which leaves little room if rates rise.
- No other debts or credit card limits counting against you.
Household income under $150,000 may qualify for the Kāinga Ora First Home Loan with a 5% deposit.
An indication from your own figures, not a lending decision or financial advice. Banks use their own living-cost benchmarks, test rates and rules for bonus, overtime, self-employed and rental income, and may lend more or less. The debt-to-income cap is the Reserve Bank’s limit for most owner-occupier lending (since July 2024); banks may lend some above it. Nothing you enter here is saved or sent.
Next steps
Happy with the range? A pre-approval turns it into a figure a lender stands behind. Then look up homes in your range: every property page shows an estimate of its value and what it last sold for.
Questions
How do banks decide how much I can borrow?
They check that your income, after tax and living costs, could keep up repayments at a test rate above today’s rates, and they apply the Reserve Bank’s debt-to-income limit, which caps most owner-occupier lending at six times income. They also look at your deposit, credit history and the property.
How much deposit do I need?
Most lending needs 20% of the price. Banks can lend some loans with less, but ration them and often charge more. The Kāinga Ora First Home Loan accepts 5% if your income is under its caps.
Does a credit card limit affect my borrowing?
Yes. Lenders count the whole limit as debt, used or not, and assume a repayment on it. Reducing or closing cards you do not need can raise what you can borrow.
Is this a pre-approval?
No. It is an indication from figures you type in. A pre-approval comes from a bank or mortgage adviser after they have checked your income, spending and credit.
More home loan tools
Mortgage repayment calculator
Weekly, fortnightly or monthly repayments and the interest over the loan.
Pay off your mortgage faster
What extra repayments or a lump sum save.
Break fee calculator
A rough cost of breaking a fixed rate early.
Switching banks
Whether moving your mortgage pays, after every cost.
Buying your first home
The steps from saving a deposit to settlement day.
What could your KiwiSaver buy?
Your balance as a price, and homes at it in the suburb you pick.
KiwiSaver first-home withdrawal
What your KiwiSaver could put toward a deposit.
First Home Loan and low deposits
Buying with 5–20% deposit, and what it costs.
Mortgage pre-approval
What it is, what to bring, and how long it lasts.
Today’s mortgage rates
Every lender’s advertised rates, side by side.
Home loan affordability by town
What a median home costs against local incomes, town by town.
Find a mortgage adviser
Advisers and firms near you.