Shared ownership means someone buys a slice of the house alongside you. You put in 5%, YouOwn puts in up to 15%, and between you that makes the 20% deposit banks are looking for. You live in the home, it sits on your own title, and you buy their share back later. If you earn too much for the government scheme and 20% still feels years away, this one is worth an hour of your time.
There is a group of buyers who fall between two stools. You earn too much for the Kāinga Ora First Home Loan, and not enough to save a 20% deposit while you are paying someone else’s mortgage in rent. Shared ownership was built for that exact gap, and most people have never heard of it.
Three steps, and the middle one is the part that surprises people. You are an owner from the first day, not a tenant with a nicer name.
Five percent of the purchase price is the starting point, and for most people it comes out of KiwiSaver. That is the same deposit you would need for the government scheme, without the income caps that come with it.
YouOwn buys a share of the house alongside you, up to 15% of it. Added to your 5%, the bank sees a 20% deposit and lends on normal terms. You own 85% of the home and YouOwn owns the rest, together on one title as tenants in common.
After five years you have the right to buy YouOwn’s share at a price set by an independent valuer. There is no deadline forcing you to do it, and you can work towards 100% in your own time.
You are paying for someone else’s money sitting in your house, so yes, there is a cost. Here is all of it, in plain numbers.
You pay a charge on the money YouOwn has put in, not on the whole house. Here in the Bay of Plenty that is currently 3.95% a year, and across most of the rest of New Zealand it is 6.25%. I will confirm the figure that applies to you before you commit to anything.
YouOwn charges $1,100 at the time of purchase. On top of that you pay the usual costs of getting a home loan, which means your solicitor and the valuation.
Rates, insurance and maintenance are yours, the same as any other owner. YouOwn holds a share of the house, not a share of the chores.
Worth comparing against the alternative. Buying with a small deposit on your own usually means a low equity margin added to your interest rate until you reach 20%, and that is a cost too. Which one works out cheaper depends on your numbers, and that is a calculation rather than an opinion.
There are a few boxes to tick, and none of them are mysterious. Most people know within one conversation whether this is their route or not.
You need to be a New Zealand citizen, a permanent resident or hold a resident visa, have a clean credit record, and be buying the home to live in yourself. This is not for an investment property.
Savings, KiwiSaver, and anything family have offered. For most first home buyers the KiwiSaver balance does most of the work here.
If you qualify for a Kāinga Ora First Home Loan, that is usually the cheaper road and I will tell you so. Shared ownership earns its place when your income is above those caps.
As a guide, buyers usually need somewhere around $110,000 to $150,000 of household income, or about $90,000 on a single income. Your real number depends on your debts and your situation, so we work it out properly rather than guessing.
Not every bank lends on shared ownership. YouOwn works with BNZ and Kiwibank, so your application goes where it will actually be understood.
I stay with it through the conditions, the approval and settlement, and I explain how your loan is put together before you sign anything.
If you have been told you earn too much for help and not enough to save, this is exactly the conversation worth having.
It suits some people beautifully and is wrong for others. I will tell you honestly which one you are, including when the answer is to keep saving.
Paperwork, lender questions, conditions coming back. I handle the back and forth so you can get on with your life.
The lender pays me once your loan settles. That is the same whether you buy through shared ownership or on your own.
I work with first home buyers in Tauranga, Mount Maunganui, Pāpāmoa and across the Bay of Plenty, and with plenty of people who live nowhere near me. Most of this happens by phone, email and video call, so where you are does not change the advice or how easy it is to reach me. If you are local and would rather sit down together, that is easy to arrange.
The things people ask me most before they buy this way.
It is a way of buying a home where a provider puts money in alongside you and owns a share of the house with you. You live in it as the owner, it is on your own title, and you buy their share back over time. In New Zealand the main provider is YouOwn.
Five percent of the purchase price. For most first home buyers that comes out of KiwiSaver. YouOwn adds up to 15% alongside it, so the bank sees the 20% deposit it wants.
Up to 15% of the purchase price. That leaves you owning 85% of the home from the day you move in, with YouOwn holding the rest until you buy it back.
You pay a charge on the money YouOwn has put in, not on the whole house. In the Bay of Plenty that is currently 3.95% a year, and across most of the rest of New Zealand it is 6.25%. There is also a one off fee of $1,100 when you buy, plus your solicitor and valuation costs. I will confirm the current figures for your situation.
Yes. The house is on its own title and you and YouOwn own it together as tenants in common, with you holding the larger share. You have the rights of an owner, and you also carry the usual costs of one, so rates, insurance and maintenance are yours.
From five years onwards you have the right to buy their share at a price set by an independent valuer. There is no deadline pushing you, so you can work towards owning all of it in your own time.
You both own a share, so you both share in the change in value. Your 85% grows with the market, and the share you buy back later is priced at an independent valuation at that time rather than at what it cost originally.
You need to be a New Zealand citizen, a permanent resident or hold a resident visa, have a good credit record, and be buying the home to live in. There is no hard income cap, but you do need enough income to carry both the home loan and the charge on YouOwn’s share.
YouOwn works with BNZ and Kiwibank. Not every lender understands this kind of purchase, which is a good reason to have the application go to the right place first time rather than being declined somewhere that was never going to say yes.
Nothing. My service is free to you, because the lender pays me once your loan settles. That is the same whether you buy through shared ownership or any other way.
