Withdrawals increase
The amount of money being withdrawn from KiwiSaver accounts to fund first-home purchases soared in the year to January, new data from Inland Revenue shows.
Thursday, February 25th 2016, 6:00AM
Members have pulled about $470 million out of the scheme over the year to purchase a first home.
Changes introduced in April allowed members to withdraw their member tax credit too and made HomeStart grants accessible to more people.
That led to an increase in withdrawals, which continued through the year. The amount withdrawn for first homes fell to just under $30 million in January, compared to $45 million in August and November.
More than 120,000 members were on a contributions holiday in January, of whom about 90 per cent had not been contributing for 60 months.
Just over $400 million was contributed to schemes from employers and members in January.
More than 1.8 million members have now made an active choice about their KiwiSaver fund, compared to just over 0.5 million in a default fund.
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