Moving House

Buying your next home is a bit more complex than buying your first home. 
Should you buy or sell first? What happens to your mortgage when you move?

If you’re looking to make a move, talk to us first. We'll help you review your financial position and make sure you’re getting the best deal and the right advice.

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Cardboard box labeled Wilbur's hats

When you're considering a move, there's a lot to think about. We can help.

  • Should you buy or sell first?
  • What is bridging finance and how do you arrange it?
  • What deposit do you need for your next home?
  • Can you use your sale deposit for your next purchase?
  • How do you align settlement dates to avoid extra costs?
  • How do you choose a good agent?

We'll answer these and more. Our advisers are here to make the process easier, so you can spend more time on the important stuff - like searching for your next dream home. We've even got a handy guide with some sweet tips on buying and selling at the same time.

Get the handy guide to buying and selling

Why talk to Squirrel when you've already got a mortgage?

List detail

Review your financial situation

We'll make sure your mortgage is taken care of when you move house and ensure you've got the best rate and mortgage structure.

Strategy

More lending options

We've got relationships with all the banks, plus non-banks too. More options means a better deal for you.

Briefcase

Our advisers aren't incentivised by lenders

They're paid the same no matter which lender you end up with, so you know you won't get pushed into a loan you don't want or can't afford.

Glasses

Sort the deals from the duds

We love putting properties under the microscope. When you find a potential home, we'll check it out and make sure you're not buying a lemon.

Let's get started

Book a time to talk to an adviser today.

Check out the video of Courtney's story.

She's one of our favourite clients and we helped her and her family into their second home.

What happens to your mortgage when you move house?

What a lot of people don’t realise is when you move house, you can move your mortgage with it. 

Say you’ve got a really good rate on your current mortgage and you don’t want to lose it. If you're still borrowing the same amount, we can move the mortgage rate from one property to another. This is a smooth process if settlement for both properties is the same day. Of course lining both up for the same day isn't always possible, so don't fret - there are options for that too, like bridging finance.

Another common option is paying off your home loan in full when you sell, and taking out a new one against the new property. 

If you need to borrow more for the new property, we can approach the bank on your behalf and make sure you get the best deal.

When you’re repaying your loan once you’ve sold, you may have to pay break fees so before you sign anything, get in touch with one of our team to chat through your options.

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Bridging finance

In a perfect world, you'd sell your house one day and land the perfect gem the next, then settle both on the same day. But we live in the real world where that's not usually the case. If you end up buying first, there are two kinds of bridging loans you could go for:

Open-ended bridging

This is when you buy first and intend to sell, but haven't sold yet. Banks are reluctant to do open-ended bridging unless you are in a strong enough financial position to support both mortgages.

Closed bridging

This is when you buy, and before settlement, your existing house is sold under unconditional contract but is yet to settle. This is generally easy to finance.

Find out more about bridging finance

Moving homes? JB explains what happens to your mortgage in just over 2 minutes

FAQs

Buying and selling at the same time can feel like a balancing act, but with a little planning, it's totally manageable. We've answered a few questions to help guide you through the process.

More lenders, more options

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Squirrel

We have access to more lenders than other brokers – and if you don't quite fit the bank's box we can step in with our own custom solution for you.

Chat to a mortgage whiz

Not sure where to start? Book a chat and we'll give you a call to talk through your situation, and provide advice for your next move.

Have a gander at our blogs

You'll find some useful insights on the joys of moving house. 

Basketball coach talking players through a roughly drawn game plan

19 February 2025


OCR & interest rates update – February 2025

By John Bolton

So, the Reserve Bank has kicked the year off exactly as expected, delivering a 0.50% OCR cut on 19 February. Here's what that means for Kiwi borrowers, interest rates, and the economy.

Lots 2,3,4, 63 Otara Road, Kaiwaka

A Squirrel case-study: A perfect spot for first home buyers and retirees alike

By Squirrel

This is the story of how one accidental developer took a beautiful block of Kaipara land and transformed it into four separate properties built to suit everyone from first home buyers to retirees. And, how none of it would have been possible without a little bit of help of Squirrel.

Accelerator and brake of a vehicle

10 February 2025


Rodney’s Ravings: NZ interest rates can still fall even if the Fed halts cuts

By Rodney Dickens

Movements in NZ interest rates have been relatively closely linked to those in US interest rates over the last five years. With the Fed scaling down plans for rate cuts, could it limit scope for NZ mortgage interest rates to fall further this year?

After some advice? 

We're here to help.

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Ashley Paice

New Zealand

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Great experience and very happy with the service.

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Jonny

New Zealand

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Mayank has been great to deal with. Our mortgage is floating for the first few days and then we will fix next week since there's been an OCR cut. Mayank was really good at explaining things especially the option of setting up part of the mortgage with a revolving credit.

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Anonymous

New Zealand

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Excellent

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Peter

New Zealand

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Shiva was amazing, this process was so so simple, so much better than direct with the bank. Thanks