ASB is drawing in the biggest chunk of first-home buyers in NZ across the big banks, as the average age of the first-home buyer reaches the mid-30s

First-home buyers have been flocking to New Zealand’s second-largest lender to get on the property ladder.

Across the country’s five biggest banks – ANZ NZ, ASB, BNZ, Westpac NZ and Kiwibank – ASB has been pulling in more first-home buyer (FHB) customers than its competitors.

Data from some of the banks also shows the age of the average FHB is inching upwards.

An ASB spokesperson told interest.co.nz ASB assisted around 12,500 FHBs into homes in the 12 months to September 2026 – an increase of 0.7% on the prior year.

“Around 40% of our first home buyers used their ASB KiwiSaver for their deposit in the year to September, a similar proportion to the year prior,” they said.

“The average purchase price over this time was around $770,000 (a decrease of 1%) and the average age of buyers is 35.2 compared with 35.0 in the year prior.”

Coming in second, ANZ NZ – the country’s largest bank – told interest.co.nz in the 12 months to September 30, the bank assisted more than 10,700 first-home buyers in purchasing their first home. This was a 7% increase on the previous year.

The average age of ANZ NZ’s first-home buyers was 36, up from 35 a year earlier.

The average purchase price of homes bought by ANZ first-home buyers was $791,000, compared with $777,000 in the previous year.

An ANZ NZ spokesperson said the bank doesn’t always know whether its first-home buyers have used KiwiSaver funds towards their deposit, but it does track the data for members of ANZ Investments’ KiwiSaver Schemes.

“Around 10,200 members made a first-home withdrawal in the year to 30 September, a 9% increase on the previous year,” they said.

People usually withdraw money from their KiwiSaver when they reach retirement age at 65, but can also apply for early withdrawals for first-home purchases and financial hardship reasons.

KiwiSaver withdrawals for first-home purchases have been steadily increasing over the years. In the month of September alone, first-home withdrawals reached $195.7 million.

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA), which oversees KiwiSaver, reported first-home withdrawals reached “record levels” in the March 2026 year, with more than 50,000 members withdrawing a combined $2.2 billion to support home purchases.

Across the other big banks

More than 7,000 FHBs received mortgage lending from Westpac NZ in the past 12 months, up 9% from the year earlier.

A Westpac NZ spokesperson told interest.co.nz the average age of a FHB mortgage applicant at Westpac NZ over the past 12 months was 35.

The average purchase price of homes bought by Westpac NZ’s FHBs over the last 12 months was $715,000, compared to $701,000 for the previous 12-month period.

When it came to the number of Westpac NZ FHB clients that used KiwiSaver funds toward their first home deposit, the bank’s spokesperson said it assisted more than 5,500 people with KiwiSaver withdrawals for first home purchases over the last 12 months. This is a 4% increase on the previous year.

However, the spokesperson noted that not all of these customers had taken their home loan out with Westpac.

While Kiwibank didn’t provide the average age of its FHB applicants over the past year, a spokesperson told interest.co.nz the bank assisted more than 3,200 FHBs in the year ending June 2026. This is up from around 2,100 the year before.

“We support eligible customers through a range of pathways into home ownership, including low-deposit lending, Kāinga Ora-supported options and co-ownership,” the spokesperson said.

“We also prioritise our high loan-to-value ratio (LVR) lending allocation for first-home buyers, recognising that saving a deposit remains one of the biggest barriers to getting onto the property ladder.”

BNZ didn’t respond to interest.co.nz’s first-home buyer questions, referring instead to the bank’s annual results released last Thursday for the latest data on BNZ’s FHB figures.

In the results, BNZ reported in the year ending September 30, it assisted over 7,500 customers “into their first or next homes.” First-home buyers made up more than half that figure, according to BNZ, but the bank did not specify the exact number.

The latest data from the Reserve Bank on new residential mortgage lending shows total lending to FHBs was $1.53 billion in September. While this is a 2.7% decline year-on-year when compared to September 2025, it’s a 3.7% increase on a monthly basis when compared to August 2026.

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