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My partner and I rent, have steady jobs and are trying to save a deposit for our first home. We worry that the target keeps moving. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. How do the parties' housing plans differ for first-home buyers rather than existing property owners?
For your situation, the important distinction is between helping people buy their first home and making property ownership more financially attractive for people who already own homes.
Those are not necessarily the same thing.
As a renting couple with steady employment and a deposit goal, I'd compare the parties on five practical questions:
- Deposit affordability: Will their policies make it easier to accumulate a deposit?
- House prices: Do they intend to increase housing supply, reduce prices, or support demand?
- Mortgage access: Will they help first-home buyers qualify for a mortgage?
- Renting: Will they improve the security and affordability of renting while you save?
- Long-term ownership: Will their policies make it easier to keep a home affordable after buying?
One important qualification: the 2026 election is still ahead, so it's important to distinguish confirmed party policies from proposals, previous election commitments and policies that may have changed.
1. How the main parties differ
The following reflects policies and commitments published during the 2026 campaign, checked against information available on 1 November 2026.
The focus here is what could change for a working couple currently renting, not the parties' entire housing programmes.
National
Direct deposit assistance
National proposes:
- Raise the income limit for the government-backed First Home Loan scheme to $300,000, applying to individual buyers and couples.
- Allow eligible first-home buyers to purchase with a 5% deposit rather than the usual 20%.
- Retain its broader approach of encouraging private housing development and investment.
For example, on a $700,000 home:
- 5% deposit: $35,000.
- 20% deposit: $140,000.
The important distinction is that a 5% deposit makes buying possible sooner, but doesn't make the house cheaper. You still need to qualify for the mortgage and afford repayments. National is backing first home buyersHousing policy guide
Labour
Deposit assistance and rent-to-buy
Labour has announced:
- Expand First Home Loans to a $300,000 income cap, with a 5% deposit requirement.
- Bring more banks into the scheme.
- Introduce rent-to-buy for eligible working tenants in Kāinga Ora and participating community housing.
- Credit $100 a week towards the deposit for eligible rent-to-buy participants, held in a trust account.
- Build at least 6,000 additional social housing places over four years.
Labour has also proposed a 28% capital gains tax on profits from commercial and residential investment properties, excluding the family home, from July 2027.
The rent-to-buy policy is worth understanding carefully: it isn't a universal scheme for everyone renting privately. Eligibility is tied to particular social housing providers.
Making it Easier to Buy Your First HomeRelease: Labour to help more Kiwis buy their first homeThe property policies: How election 2026 housing promises line upElection policy tracker: what the parties are promising
Green Party
Focus on housing costs and renter protections
The Greens' approach is less about helping you borrow a larger amount and more about changing the housing market.
Their announced proposals include:
- Build tens of thousands of public homes.
- Cap annual rent increases at 2%.
- Link the rent for a new tenancy to the previous tenancy's rent.
- Reverse no-cause evictions.
- Introduce an independently enforced Rental Warrant of Fitness.
- Reverse tax changes benefiting landlords and property speculators.
For your situation, the potential benefit is more predictable renting while you save, alongside an attempt to reduce competition from property investors.
However, the Greens have not announced a comparable new 5% deposit scheme for first-home buyers.
Greens announce plan to end homelessness & fix housing crisisThe property policies: How election 2026 housing promises line upHow should housing policy change?
ACT
Focus on housing supply
ACT's housing approach centres on:
- Making it easier to build homes through planning and consenting reform.
- Allowing greater freedom to develop property, subject to restrictions around material harm and environmental impacts.
- Improving infrastructure funding so councils can accommodate new housing.
- Increasing competition in the building-products market.
The argument behind this approach is that making it easier to build more homes will help address the underlying shortage.
For you, the potential benefit is improved housing availability and affordability over time, rather than direct deposit assistance.
ACT has not announced a comparable new first-home deposit scheme.
ACT New ZealandHow should housing policy change?
New Zealand First
Focus on infrastructure and development
Its announced housing policies include:
- Requiring adequate infrastructure, including roads, water and wastewater, before fast-tracked housing developments receive approval.
- Reviewing how fast-track residential developments are approved.
- Prioritising New Zealand citizens for social housing.
The infrastructure requirement could help ensure developments are properly serviced, but it may also affect how quickly some projects receive approval.
NZ First has not announced a comparable new 5% deposit scheme in its published 2026 housing commitments.
NZFirst Policy Announcement: Changes to Fast-Track Residential ApprovalsOur Policy
Te Pāti Māori
Focus on land, public housing and renters
Its announced proposals include:
- Build 2,000 homes on ancestral Māori land within four years.
- Exempt first-home buyers purchasing homes under $1 million from its proposed 5% stamp duty on residential sales.
- Introduce a land-banking tax.
- Introduce a vacant-home tax.
- Repeal landlord interest deductibility.
- Introduce universal rent control and repeal no-cause evictions.
The proposed stamp duty exemption is particularly relevant: it would mean first-home buyers below the $1 million threshold would not face that proposed transaction tax.
The wider proposals aim to discourage speculative property investment and increase housing availability.
The property policies: How election 2026 housing promises line upThe property policies: How election 2026 housing promises line up
The Opportunity Party (TOP)
Focus on land-use and tax reform
TOP proposes:
- An annual 1.75% tax on land value, with some exemptions.
- More consistent planning rules across the country.
- Easier approval for prefabricated and modular homes.
- GST refunds to councils for qualifying environmentally high-performing new homes.
- Low-cost government finance for organisations building affordable and social housing.
TOP does not offer a comparable direct first-home deposit scheme.
Its land-value tax is a particularly important difference: it would change the ongoing cost of holding land, including land owned by existing homeowners. The details of exemptions would matter considerably to someone who has just bought a home.
The property policies: How election 2026 housing promises line upElection 2026Election Policy Comparison
2. Side-by-side comparison for first-home buyers
| Party | Help with deposit? | Help with rent? | Main affordability approach |
|---|---|---|---|
| National | Yes – 5% First Home Loan expansion | No major new rent cap | Easier mortgage access and development |
| Labour | Yes – 5% loans and targeted rent-to-buy | Some protections and social housing | Deposit assistance and more public homes |
| Greens | No new deposit scheme | Yes – proposed 2% rent cap | Public housing and investor tax reform |
| ACT | No new deposit scheme | No major rent-control proposal | Planning reform and more private construction |
| NZ First | No comparable new deposit scheme | No major new rent cap | Infrastructure-backed development |
| Te Pāti Māori | Proposed first-home stamp duty exemption | Yes – universal rent control | Public housing and discouraging speculation |
| TOP | No direct deposit scheme | Stronger rental standards | Land tax and planning reform |
How should housing policy change?The property policies: How election 2026 housing promises line upNational is backing first home buyersMaking it Easier to Buy Your First HomeNZFirst Policy Announcement: Changes to Fast-Track Residential Approvals
3. What matters about existing property owners?
This is an important part of the comparison because housing policy can affect first-home buyers indirectly through its treatment of existing owners and landlords.
There are three broad approaches:
A. Support property investment and development
National has restored interest deductibility for residential landlords and supports private-sector development. ACT also emphasises private property rights and development.
Potential effect: more incentives for investment and construction, although investment in existing properties doesn't necessarily create additional homes.
B. Shift incentives away from property speculation
Labour proposes a capital gains tax on investment property profits, excluding the family home. The Greens want to reverse landlord tax changes. Te Pāti Māori proposes land-banking and vacant-home taxes.
Potential effect: these policies seek to change the financial incentives around property investment, potentially changing competition between investors and first-home buyers. Actual effects on prices and rental supply are uncertain.
C. Change the underlying cost of holding land
TOP proposes an annual land-value tax.
Potential effect: this could influence decisions about holding, developing or selling land. It would also affect some people who already own homes, depending on the exemptions and implementation.
The property policies: How election 2026 housing promises line upGreens announce plan to end homelessness & fix housing crisisACT New ZealandElection Policy Comparison
4. The question of whether your deposit target will keep moving
There is something worth separating here: getting a deposit together and being able to afford a house are two different challenges.
Consider a hypothetical $700,000 home:
How the deposit hurdle changes
5% deposit
$35,000
10% deposit
$70,000
20% deposit
$140,000
Illustrative purchase price, not a forecast or an assurance of mortgage eligibility.
But imagine house prices increase while you're saving. Your deposit could grow in dollar terms and still represent a smaller percentage of the home you want.
This is why the distinction between the parties' policies matters:
- Deposit schemes address the amount you need upfront.
- More housing construction seeks to address the price and availability of homes.
- Rent controls seek to protect the amount of money you can save each month.
- Investor tax changes seek to alter the relative attractiveness of property investment.
None of these policies alone guarantees that house prices will become more affordable relative to household incomes.
5. Questions I'd investigate before deciding
Rather than looking only at which party promises the smallest deposit, I'd look at these questions:
- Will the policy make homes cheaper, or simply let buyers borrow more? More borrowing capacity can help you buy sooner, but can also leave you with a larger mortgage.
- What happens to rental costs while you're saving? Rent increases can undermine deposit savings even when your wages are steady.
- Will more homes actually be built? Look for specific construction targets, infrastructure funding and delivery timeframes.
- What happens to the market for first-home buyers competing with investors? Examine tax treatment of existing properties and incentives for new housing.
- What happens after you buy? Mortgage affordability, property taxes, insurance, rates and maintenance all matter.
For independent comparisons, two useful resources are:
- Policy.nz – 2026 housing policy comparison – compare party policies by housing affordability, renting and social housing.
- RNZ – 2026 housing policy guide – a campaign policy guide updated during October.
My overall observation
There are two particularly different approaches to pay attention to:
- National and Labour: Both have now proposed widening access to 5% First Home Loans, although Labour adds a targeted rent-to-buy pathway.
- Greens, ACT, Te Pāti Māori and TOP: Put more emphasis on changing the housing market itself, through different combinations of public housing, rental protections, planning reform and property-tax changes.
NZ First puts more emphasis on infrastructure and development conditions.
That is a difference in philosophy, not a guarantee of which approach will produce the most affordable homes.
One final thought: You don't have to judge a housing policy solely by whether it gets you into a house faster. It's also reasonable to ask whether it creates a market where someone on an ordinary working income can buy a home without taking on an unsustainable mortgage.
For a couple in your position, that's a very legitimate question to take into the voting booth.
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