By Susan Edmunds
Kainga Ora says it will provide exemptions to a group of first-home buyers to allow them to access the First Home Grant, despite the coalition government's decision to discontinue it.
The government announced it was stopping the scheme as of May 22, and would redirect the money into social housing.
The scheme offered up to $5000 per buyer if they met income and price caps, and $10,000 for those buying a new build.
Kainga Ora stopped accepting applications for the grant on May 22, although existing applications would still be progressed.
However, it said the government had now decided to provide exemptions for a group of buyers who might otherwise have missed out.
People will be able to access the exemptions if they had pre-approval for a First Home Grant that expired before May 22 and they had signed a sale and purchase agreement before that date.
Pre-approvals were valid for 180 days.
The exemption is open for one week from Friday, June 7.
Mortgage broker Glen Mcleod, of Edge Mortgages, said he expected it would only apply to a small number of people.
He said first-home buyers might be better served now by changes to make the First Home Loan scheme more lenient, because it allowed borrowers with small deposits to avoid the much higher interest rates they could be charged when they did not qualify for bank specials.
