What does Budget 2022 mean for you?

With the cost of living soaring, interest rates rising and house prices falling, Budget 2022 aimed to deliver a little something to help the average household.

So what’s in it for you? We've summarised the most significant changes below.

Support for rising household prices

For those earning under $70,000 a year, there is a one-off $350 cost-of-living payment, which will be delivered as $27 per week for three months. Lower-income households will have access to more subsidies for insulation and heating, and in the Emissions Reduction plan, could be partly funded into a low-emission vehicle.

Child support payments should also run a little more smoothly for single parents.

First home buyers get a small boost

The house price caps for First Home Loans have been completely removed, while the price caps for First Home Grants have been increased significantly.

This should help if you, or someone you know, is on the brink of being able to afford a home but not quite able to get over the final affordability hurdle. Hopefully this will support more Kiwis into their own houses.

Funding for businesses

The Budget is light on business spending, but does include a new $100 million Business Growth Fund for SMEs. This could be instrumental in addressing the ongoing difficulty of business lending for SMEs.

The Government is also continuing the Regional Strategic Partnership Fund and putting some money towards designing its earlier-announced income insurance scheme. Apprenticeship schemes are getting an additional $230 million in funding, which may eventually help address some of the current skill shortages in our labour markets.

Further Notable Changes Include:

Supermarket legislation to ban covenants over land which in the past had seen fewer new competitors entering the market.
Funding to extend the half-price public tansport fares for a further two months.
Permanent half-price public transport fares for Community Service Cardholders.
Extension to the fuel excise and road user charge reductions for a further two months.
$60 million budgeted for Broadband Infrastructure in our worst-served regions.

We hope you find this a useful and informative read on the Government Budget for 2022. If you have any questions, please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.