Getting pre-approved
Mortgage pre-approval is a lender's conditional indication of how much it may lend based on your income, expenses, debts and deposit. It helps you set a realistic search budget, but it is not final approval. The lender still needs to accept the property and confirm its conditions before you commit.
What pre-approval actually is
A conditional yes from a bank saying, on the information you've given them, they'd lend you up to $X. It's usually valid for 90 days and lets you make offers with confidence. It's not a promise — the specific property still needs to stack up when you find one.
What lenders assess
Income (stability, type, how long you've been there), regular expenses, existing debts and repayments, credit history, deposit source and genuineness, and account conduct — meaning what your bank statements actually look like day to day.
Documents to have ready
Photo ID, last 3 months' payslips (or 2 years' financials if you're self-employed), 3 months' bank statements for every account, a KiwiSaver statement, and details of any debts. If you have a gifted deposit coming, a signed gifting letter from the giver.
How long it takes
Once we have your documents, most main-bank pre-approvals come back within 3–10 working days. The variable is you: the faster you can get your documents to me, the faster we're in front of a lender.
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