Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

A financial advisor believes the New Zealand stock exchange will be less affected by the latest global market trends than Australia.

The Australian stock exchange was two percent down when it closed trading yesterday evening, with some of the worst hit industries being mining and tech companies.

It came after some fears globally about investment returns on artificial intelligence.

Radical Investment financial advisor Darcy Ungaro said New Zealand’s main exports were quite different to those across the ditch.

“Specifically, commodities like iron and coal and the financial and banking industry. Obviously, there’s more tech companies in the ASX then the NZX.”

Ungaro believed that Australia was likely more connected to the global economy through its products and financial markets.

“They are far more sensitive to changes like Donald Trump’s recent nomination for Fed Chair.”

He said the New Zealand stock exchange was fairly insulated at the moment.

Tech and business commentator Paul Spain said the New Zealand stock market will be less exposed to the global trends driving down stocks in Australia and the US, due to having fewer tech companies that are listed on the local stock exchange.

However, he said New Zealanders with investments in NZ companies listed overseas, such as Xero and Rocketlab, or those with investments in international tech stocks, will still feel the hit.

Spain said the global trends may trigger people to sell off or exit from certain KiwiSaver plans; however, he said conventional wisdom would advise to hang in for the long haul.

“Sometimes we see these stocks that will have a drop, people will be fearful and maybe exit a KiwiSaver scheme and may well get burned if those stocks then end up bouncing back,” he said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/07/nz-stock-less-affected-by-global-market-than-australia-advisor-says/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Unemployment has hit its highest level in a decade, but beneath the headline numbers some sectors are faring much better than others.

Stats NZ said this week the unemployment rate hit 5.4 percent in the three months to December, the highest since March 2015.

A total of 165,000 people were unemployed, a rise of 4000 on the previous quarter and 10,000 on a year ago. More people reported being available for work in the quarter.

Brad Olsen, chief executive at Infometrics, said while the number of full-time roles was down 0.9 percent year-on-year, the number of part-time positions had increased 2.1 percent, or 11,400 jobs.

“Accommodation and food services has seen the largest increase in jobs over the last year, up just over 25,000, with around 17,000 more full time and 8000 more part-time roles,” he said.

He said retail, health and information, media and telecommunications also had strong part-time growth in employment.

“For retail, there were 400 fewer roles overall, with 4100 fewer full time roles but 3700 more part-time roles, as retailers look to right-size their workforce for still mixed spending patterns. Health roles are up 7000 jobs overall over the last year, but this is made up of around 3000 fewer full-time roles but nearly 10,000 more part-time roles as the health sector manages budgets.”

In manufacturing, there were 7000 fewer manufacturing roles in December compared to a year earlier, driven by a drop of 7300 full-time positions offset a little by a 200 lift in part-time roles.

He said across the economy as a whole, a quarter of all roles were part-time.

“The increase in part-time work does seem to be a bit around businesses who are needing more capacity but aren’t willing or able to commit to full-time work immediately. That’s probably a bit of a sign of the slight tentativeness in the economy. You’ve had surveys recently which have suggested businesses are more upbeat about the general economy and have stronger expectations that they will both invest and hire more and there’s evidence of that but I think everyone’s just a bit shy at the start.”

He said there was a turnaround in tourism that was helping employment in that sector. “It’s now in a good space above 90 percent of pre-pandemic levels. There does seem to be more consistency in accommodation and food services because you’ve had lifts in both full-time and part-time work.

“Accommodation and food services is one of the industries with a much stronger focus on part-time work anyway but that increase in employment seems fairly broad-based. I do wonder if there’s an element of Kiwis seem to be spending a bit more on food and food-related items compared to straight-up retail options. You’ve seen retail employment actually fall a touch.”

He said people seemed to be spending on groceries and going out to eat a bit more but not as much on physical items.

The biggest declines in job numbers were in manufacturing, construction and some transport activity.

“Construction has seen declines across the board. You’ve got a nearly 11 percent decline over the last year in part-time construction work, an 8.2 percent decrease in full-time construction work, and that leaves an overall 8.4 percent decline.

“There’s just less to do than what there was a couple of years ago, and so the construction workforce has had to right-size a bit more.”

Some industries were facing longer-lasting change than others, he said.

“For construction, I’d find it hard to believe at the moment that construction would make it back to its peak level of employment, just because construction activity levels are likely to remain below peak.

“So if you needed so many workers to do all the work back in 2022-23 when it was really difficult to find builders, if you don’t have quite as much activity, you probably won’t see that high level of construction employment again, not necessarily in the short term at least.

“A lot of those other industries, I’d certainly be expecting as we sort of go through the year a bit more of a transition from that part-time focus to more of a full-time focus. But that will, I guess, for a lot of businesses, again, who are thinking that they’re a bit shy about hiring, they will be wanting to see sort of more stronger levels of sales and activity coming through before they commit to that permanent employment.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/the-sector-with-17000-more-full-time-jobs/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Consumers were a shade more willing to spend at the start of the year, although stormy weather put a dampener on things in some parts of the country, according to payments firm Worldline.

Spending at core retail merchants rose by 0.6 percent in January compared with a year ago, with a continued mixed showing between regions and cities, and between the North and South Islands.

Worldline NZ’s chief sales officer, Bruce Proffit, said the modest but positive start to the new year for consumer spending would be welcomed by retailers after the tough past year.

“The annual growth rate seen in January 2026 compared to 2025 was not high but was at least a positive start to the year – but we also noted a sharp fall in spending on Thursday 21 January, the day of storms and heavy rainfall that had tragic impacts in some areas.”

Retail spending across the Worldline NZ network slumped by 5.6 percent that day.

Annual spending growth was highest in Whanganui (+2.5 percent), Hawke’s Bay (+1.9 percent) and Palmerston North (+1.9 percent), and lowest in the Bay of Plenty (-3.4 percent), Taranaki (-3.0 percent) and Gisborne (-1.0 percent).

“The net effect of the storms over the month resulted in Bay of Plenty and Gisborne being amongst the weakest regions in the country in terms of the annual change in spending,” Proffit said.

The negative effect on spending continued over the following Auckland Anniversary long weekend, including at hospitality outlets.

Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young remained cautious, saying the latest rise in unemployment to 5.4 percent, pointed to some time before consumers would stop focusing on just getting by.

“Retailers have been experiencing tough trading conditions for some time now, and while business confidence is largely positive overall, it is clear it could be some time before New Zealanders feel confident enough in the economic conditions to increase their discretionary spending.

“Many retailers will be feeling as though they are just treading water as the economy moves sideways, rather than forwards,” she said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/weather-puts-dampener-on-slight-retail-spending-recovery/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Consumer NZ says New Zealand is facing a “really serious” situation with insurance becoming increasingly unaffordable and potentially inaccessible – and a new review needs to urgently tackle the problem.

It was revealed this week that the Council of Financial Regulators has been asked to conduct a review of insurance affordability for households, and the Commerce Commission has been asked for an initial market assessment.

Plans to introduce new levies as part of the Natural Hazards Insurance Act have been paused until the review can happen.

It comes amid reports that AA Insurance has pulled back from offering home policies in some South Island towns.

In a cabinet paper recommending the review, Treasury said home insurance premiums had grown at three times the rate of the consumer price index since 2011, and there had been a 40 percent rise in the past two years.

“Premiums have grown even faster for some people in high-risk areas. Insurance remains largely available, but access is becoming more difficult in areas facing both high earthquake and flood risk. With improved scientific understanding of seismic and climate risk, further increases are expected, and coverage may soon become unavailable for some people at any price.”

The first stage of the insurance review is expected to take six months and will be followed by a second phase, of policy development.

Treasury said there was some evidence that insurers had higher profit margins in New Zealand compared to Australia.

“New Zealand’s higher risk profile is likely a contributing factor, with investors demanding higher returns for the higher risk. However, it could also indicate weaker competitive pressures in New Zealand.”

Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy said he would be surprised if the Commerce Commission did not conclude that there were the same issues in insurance as were seen in the banking sector and the supermarket sector. “And others they’ve done market studies on that are problematic from a competition perspective.”

He said it was likely that a broader market study would be justified. A market study would allow more rigourous economic analysis of the profitability of insurance businesses as well as the factors that might make the market unique.

New Zealanders seemed to be getting a tough deal from insurers.

“Wellington is the most expensive place in the country to live. We live on multiple fault lines, we live close to the sea… increasingly it’s becoming too difficult for people, especially apartment dwellers in Wellington to afford what is the basic of living in a first world economy. You need to be able to insure your property. There are lots of factors that go into it but one of them appears to be that Australian-owned insurers – there’s really only two players in the market in home insurance, IAG and Suncorp – appear to be earning higher returns in New Zealand than they do in Australia.”

‘A prudential risk for banks’

He said he hoped to see some urgency from the government, and for it to accept it was an interlinked problem with climate adaption and the fundamentals of the market.

“The banking sector needs to be made aware of this, because if suddenly insurance isn’t available on a whole lot of properties that have mortgages over them, and that means those mortgage holders could be in breach of their mortgage terms and conditions, what happens where those mortgage-holders default? Or there is a natural disaster, and suddenly all of those mortgages can’t be called in.

“That’s a prudential risk for the banks, especially in an economy like New Zealand, where it has been a housing market with a small economy tacked on. This is really serious stuff, and I guess that’s why the Treasury’s kind of woken up and gone, actually, we’d better do something here.”

Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen said it was not surprising that premiums had increased.

“Does anyone remember Cyclone Gabrielle a couple of years ago? Those increases are very much being driven in many regards by reinsurance costs and the risk factors New Zealand has.”

He said the rate of annual inflation in dwelling insurance peaked at 25 percent in the March 2024 quarter, and contents insurance lifted by 28 percent in the same year.

“Before then, there was a bit of a burst in dwelling insurance that peaked at 18 percent back in 2018.

“We noted as well, though, last year, the level of rising challenges that you’re facing out there in the environment, the number of states of emergency continuing to lift… we’ve seen a 237 percent increase in the number of days that parts of New Zealand spent under a state of emergency in the last 12 years compared to the previous 12.

“So there’s a much more sustained level of pressure that’s putting pressure on the insurers who need to be able to pay for all these claims.”

He said in 2006, total insurance costs were 1.7 percent of overall household spending.

That increased to 3.16 percent in 2020.

He said there had also been a shift towards dwelling insurance and away from other types such as life insurance.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/really-serious-call-for-urgency-as-review-of-insurance-commences/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Tax accountants say interactions with Inland Revenue (IR) are improving but inconsistencies, inflexibility and inexperienced staff continue to be a frustration.

Chartered Accountants (CAANZ) and Tax Management’s (TMNZ) 2025 IR satisfaction survey indicates 82 percent of its tax agents who responded to the survey had clients with unpaid tax debt, though about 75 percent believed they would be able to make their tax payments.

Still, members gave IR’s handling of debt recovery a rating of 5.8 out of 10, which matched last year’s result, though there was a high degree of satisfaction when it came to online digital services.

TMNZ’s strategic advisor Chris Cunniffe said most of the issues with IR arose from one-on-one interactions, as the department stepped up efforts to recover $9.3 billion in unpaid tax.

“They are unsurprisingly throwing a lot of resource at it, which then means there’s a lot of interaction with tax agents,” Cunniffe said.

Debt management issues

Many tax agents said they did not understand IR’s current debt strategy, with inconsistent case handling, delayed follow-ups and misplaced enforcement focus.

The survey found there was a strong perception that outcomes often depended on which IR staff member managed the case, creating uncertainty and inefficiency.

Many respondents believed IR was intervening too late to collect debts, with debts already escalated to unmanageable levels.

Respondents were also concerned that small debts were chased aggressively while larger debts attracted less attention.

Recurring concern with audit and review activity

About 40 percent of tax agents said they were concerned about the standard of IR’s reviews or audits of clients, as inexperienced auditors lacked practical commercial understanding or the confidence to manage reviews effectively.

“Members experienced variation in how similar issues were handled across Inland Revenue teams, and many highlighted the impact of inexperienced staff.

“A further concern was Inland Revenue’s declining ability to understand the issue being raised, despite improved responsiveness. These gaps continue to affect predictability and the quality of the overall experience.”

Members were also concerned by IR’s increased attention on GST, PAYE, land transactions, and emerging activity in crypto-related matters.

“While satisfaction with final outcomes was generally moderate, the process often felt uneven,” the survey indicated.

Working to resolve issues

Cunniffe said CAANZ and TMNZ were working with IR to resolve the issues raised by the survey.

“What we’re looking for here is a collaborative approach . . . and look to get alignment on how tax agents and Inland Revenue can work to address this debt mountain that we face,” he said.

“We don’t see any point in just throwing stones at the Inland Revenue and saying, you’re not good enough.”

IR deputy commissioner Lisa Barrett said IR’s approach had been effective, with more than $4b in debt repaid.

“We’re pleased that accountants have noticed our increased efforts in audit and debt collection and are working with us and their clients to resolve any issues,” she said.

“Any time an organisation rapidly increases activity there are areas to improve, and we’re grateful for CAANZ feedback and their positive attitude to working through those with us.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/inland-revenue-standing-improves-but-frustrations-persist/

Source: Radio New Zealand

There is likely to be another six months of little house price movement, property data firm Cotality says.

It has released its latest data, which shows property values fell 0.1 percent in January.

The median value was $802,617, 1 percent lower than a year earlier and 17.5 percent below the early 2022 peak.

Standalone houses fell 0.7 percent over the 12 months to January. Townhouses were down 1.7 percent and apartments 4.1 percent.

Auckland values were down 0.3 percent in January and 1 percent over three months, and Wellington’s were down 0.1 percent and 0.5 percent over three months. Hamilton and Christchurch were flat while Tauranga values lifted 0.3 percent and Dunedin’s 0.4 percent. Queenstown prices lifted 0.8 percent in the month and 1 percent over three months.

Chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said it was a continuation of the flat activity seen through last year.

“At the moment buyers still seem to be in the ascendancy and values are flatlining,” Davidson said.

“New borrowers and also existing mortgage holders will be feeling the benefits of lower interest rates and be more able to act in the market.

“But there’s still a good stock of listings out there for buyers to choose from and a cautious attitude persists, especially as the recovering economy has yet to improve job security and employment levels.

“The net result is that buyers aren’t in a rush to bid up prices, although vendors aren’t generally having to drop their expectations much either.”

He said it would be interesting to see what housing market policies were presented by politicians heading into the election and what that might mean for buyers and sellers.

Davidson said recent talk about the potential for earlier official cash rate increases might have made some households nervous, but weak unemployment data on Wednesday may have changed the picture again.

“For a while there it was a growing view that we’d see OCR increases sooner rather than later but maybe that view’s being back-pedalled a bit off the back of the labour market numbers.

“I think the tone of the commentary is just shifting a bit towards there’s no rush and the OCR increases might not be coming through straight away, so that probably gives some reassurance to the housing market. But at the same time, there’s other possible restraints in the form of debt-to-income ratio limits and housing supply has increased.

He said it was likely that house prices would rise slowly this year.

“It’s not hard ot image things trending sidewards a bit further.

“Sentiment still seems to be fairly cautious… Some of these forces are pushing against each other at the moment. I think probably what it really takes is that economic recovery to get a bit more strength and really start to push the unemployment rate down. That might not be a consideration until maybe the second half of the year.

“It could be a year of two halves in some ways for house prices – the first half of the year is trending sideways.”

He said first-home buyers might not remain such a high share of activity, but were likely to be a strong force this year.

“Meanwhile, investors have also returned to the market but will be keeping a close eye on the politics, particularly around a possible capital gains tax and any discussions about interest deductibility.

“All in all, it could prove to be another relatively subdued year for housing in 2026.”

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/message-to-house-buyers-youve-got-time/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Property flippers are back, at a rate not seen since before the global financial crisis.

A recent case in which an Auckland re-seller was ordered to pay $1 million to a couple he left out of pocket highlighted the perils of the practice.

Robert and Margaret Smallridge took their case against Paljeet Singh to the High Court in Auckland, where Justice Tracey Walker ruled in their favour.

The couple sold their Avondale home to Singh at the peak of the property market, in November 2021, for $1.925 million.

He intended to sell it on before the settlement date, but the market dropped. The couple eventually resold the property to another buyer for significantly less.

Singh was told to pay more than $750,000 in damages as well as contractual interest at 14 percent from 23 November, 2022 to the resale on 14 April, 2023, to a total of $99,604.48. He also had to pay a contractual interest on the net loss on resale at $268.01 per day from 15 April 2023 until it was paid.

Nick Goodall, head of research at property data firm Cotality, said the number of contemporaneous sales – where a property is sold to one person and then on to another at the same time – had lifted significantly last year after a sharp fall in 2023.

“There was a lift in these types of transactions last year, almost double 2024, and even more than what we saw through the Covid boom times.

“Perhaps this reflects the position of some vendors being more inclined to shift a property – given the decline of the market and weakness of the broader economy – rather than being able to hold on for a better price. Though this activity is still less prevalent than in the lead up to the Global Financial Crisis.”

The peak of this activity, according to Cotality’s data, was in 2007, but last year was the busiest year for it since then.

“It probably also speaks to the fact we’ve seen more activity at that lower end, which I suspect is going to be where more of the flipping activity happens as well,” Goodall said.

“When you look at the growth or lack of in prices that we’ve seen at the lower to middle end, where first-home buyers have been active, that hasn’t actually been as bad as perhaps the overall market has, which has been affected by the middle section of the market where the movers aren’t moving at the moment.”

He said people who made it work were selective in what they bought.

“You might find a property that’s been on the market for a while. It’s going to be experienced people and maybe they understand where a vendor might want a quicker sale in terms of moving on, but they can open up a different market to sell that on once they get to a certain state.”

He said it would happen less frequently when the market was soft, but there would still be buyers making it work on some properties.

But the Auckland case showed it did not always succeed.

“If the market’s not going so well, the economy’s not going so well, the buyers just aren’t there, they’re not seeing value on the property you’ve got, whatever it might be… It’s certainly not foolproof or faultless, but there’s probably always opportunities for this type of activity to continue,” Goodall said.

‘Lazy investors’

Property investment coach Steve Goodey said there were a number of “buyers’ advocates” in the market who would find properties that appeared to be a good deal and sell them on to investors with a small margin.

“I’ve done quite a few contemporaneous settlements in the last few months – four in December and two in January.

“There’s an investor market out there that doesn’t really know how cheap you can actually buy stuff at the moment, so if you’re a professional buyer and negotiator and can find equity, a discount or a high-yielding property, it’s not terribly hard to pass it on for a moderate fee.

“There are lots of lazy investors out there who don’t mind taking something off someone if the numbers make sense.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/the-return-of-the-property-flipper/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Lyttelton Port Company has delivered record earnings and profit in the first half of its financial year, thanks to strong growth in bulk imports and exports.

Total revenue was $108.5 million for the six months ending 31 December, an increase of 7.6 percent on the same period last year.

Operating earnings (EBITDA) rose 15.4 percent to $35.8 million, while net profit after tax increased 19.2 percent to $14.6 million.

Bulk cargo volumes rose 13 percent year-on-year in the first half.

LPC chief executive Graeme Sumner said the results were another step on the road towards a financially sustainable organisation.

“This growth demonstrates the ongoing resilience of our bulk operations and the important role the port continues to play in supporting Canterbury’s and the South Island economy,” he said.

“Our cost base remains carefully managed and aligned with the future needs of the organisation.”

Lyttelton Port Company is 100 percent owned by Christchurch City Holdings, the investment arm of the Christchurch City Council.

The port reported no significant health and safety events in the six months to the end of December.

Sumner acknowledged staff for their professionalism and commitment, saying their work continued to underpin the port’s safety and success.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/04/lyttelton-port-posts-record-half-year-profit/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A man who has cancer says he’s been so discouraged by what he’s discovered about early KiwiSaver withdrawals that he hasn’t even tried to get much-needed money out of his account – and wants the system to change.

The man, who wants only to be identified as Christopher because he has not told his teenage children about his prognosis, said he had been given about three years to live.

He was told in August that his cancer was stage four and terminal.

“At the time of discovery in August, the doctor said that based on what he saw, I only had a handful of months left. Fortunately, I have private health insurance and was therefore able to actually be seen and start treatment. If I hadn’t already had private health insurance, I’m sure I would have died before I was able to start treatment, if I’d been forced to rely strictly on the public health system.”

He said researching what was involved in a hardship application for KiwiSaver was “so discouraging” that it did not make sense to go through it and be rejected.

“I’ve got limited time and fighting with someone that’s holding my money and refusing to give it up is just one more stress I can’t afford.”

He pointed to a case that was dealt with by Financial Services Complaints Ltd, in which a woman wanted to withdraw her money early.

She too had incurable cancer and was not expected to reach 65.

She applied on the basis of serious illness but was declined because the supervisor for the scheme said she did not meet the criteria because she was expected to live at least another 12 months.

She argued it was unfair because she was not going to need the money for retirement. She said it was also unfair to say she was able to work because she was sacrificing time with her family to do so.

FSCL said the decision to decline her application was reasonable given that she did not face an imminent risk of death, which was determined as likely to happen in the next six to 12 months.

Christopher said he had lost his job as a public servant and had eight months without work before he found a contract role that lasts until June.

“Different kinds of cancer have different effects. Pancreatic cancer for example, is extremely painful and quite brutal. I’ve got bowel/colon cancer so the immediate first-order effects are moderate in comparison. However, things like the side-effects of chemo, the fact that treatment is two days out of five working days … it’s a lot for an employer to be willing to deal with. Those two days are strictly for the treatment/chemo infusion. The next day … it’s hard to even get out of bed. For me, that’s every other week.

“And that’s not even going into the various side effects of the medication, like puking, hyper-sensitivity to cold, brain fog and so forth.

“Even when I move, I’m super slow compared to a few months ago … Future contracts mean I have to disclose my diagnosis and hope that doesn’t mean I lose the contract to someone that doesn’t have cancer.”

He said living in Wellington with a mortgage and two kids meant that he had to work.

“I’ve got two or three years where I’ll be able to essentially function but … living ain’t easy. And dying is surprisingly hard too it seems. Instead of being able to spend time with the family, I’m either working or sleeping.”

He said the system should change.

“In theory, it’s my money. The government is apparently confident enough in my ability to manage it and get good returns, that they’ve cut the amount they’re willing to match.

“And yet trying to actually do something with it, people are treated as if they’re applying for a loan and have to justify it to the bank/service provider. I understand that there need to be rules to prevent people withdrawing it willy-nilly but when you’re talking about someone literally dying … I think it’s a bit ridiculous.

“I don’t deserve to actually enjoy the couple of remaining years of good life that I have and instead have to wait until I’m knocking on the hospice door, before they’ll reluctantly agree that they guess they can release my money? It feels like the banks/service providers consider it to be their money and it’s massively inconvenient for them when we need access to it. With the amount of profits the banking sector has turned in over the last few years, it’s kind of hard to swallow that these rules are in place just for my own good.”

David Callanan, general manager of corporate trustee services at Public Trust, said he was sorry to hear about Christopher’s situation. He said while he could not speak about a specific case, in general people could apply to withdraw money under significant hardship or serious illness criteria.

“Under a serious illness application, people may meet criteria for ‘imminent risk of death’ as stated by law, allowing a full withdrawal of their KiwiSaver investment. The Financial Services Council’s guidelines interpret this as the person being diagnosed with a terminal illness with 18 months or less to live.

“However, supervisors and providers are encouraged to take a commonsense approach and the supervisor assesses each application individually.

“As part of the withdrawal application, the person will need a doctor or nurse practitioner to complete a declaration form confirming their illness. This form asks the medical practitioner to give a detailed description of their patient’s condition and attach any supporting evidence.

“Under a serious illness withdrawal application, a person may meet criteria to withdraw if they are totally and permanently unable to work due to their illness. This could allow them to access a full or partial withdrawal, or one-off costs.

“A person can also apply to withdraw on significant financial hardship grounds. In most cases, this could allow them to access an amount equivalent to up to 13 weeks of living expenses, including any one-off costs. We encourage people to speak to their KiwiSaver provider in the first instance to discuss early withdrawal options.”

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/04/dying-is-hard-to-do-cancer-patient-says-kiwisaver-withdrawal-bar-too-high/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Dairy company Synlait is forecasting a hefty half-year loss as its recovery takes longer than hoped.

The company has forecast a net loss after tax of between $77 million-$82m for the six months ended January.

The company – a key supplier to A2 Milk – said manufacturing challenges at its Dunsandel plant in Canterbury had been resolved, but the need to rebuild inventory pushed up costs, forcing Synlait to sell more raw milk at low margins.

Lower returns from commodities and a conservative approach to tax accounting also dragged down the results.

Chief executive Richard Wyeth said the company was “very disappointed” with the half-year result and the slower than expected pace of the turnaround.

He said there had been progress in the company’s operations, with a refreshed Canterbury-based leadership team and the asset sale (of its North Island businesses) helping strengthen the business.

“Our strategy is being reset, and we are confident it will provide a pathway to return Synlait to success, although this will take at least 12 months,” he said.

The company’s sale of its North Island operations was still expected to go through on 1 April, with the proceeds to be used to pay down debt.

Synlait said the sale would allow it to refocus on its core operations in Canterbury.

Along with a heavy bottom line loss, Synlait also expected an operating loss of between $28m-33m, and an underlying loss of $33-38m.

Synlait had an insurance claim approved that would cover part of the losses linked to its manufacturing issues, but the final amount and timing of the payout were still being worked out.

The insurance payout would be added back into the accounts at a later date, and the figures were subject to an audit.

Synlait said it was in active talks with its banking syndicate as it worked towards completing the North Island asset sale.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/04/synlaits-comeback-delayed-as-costs-stay-high/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The head of a Mount Maunganui business association says local shops are trying to return to normal after the fatal Mauao landslide.

Six people died after a section of the maunga collapsed into a campground.

Mount Mainstreet manager Jay Banner told Morning Report locals had been grieving, but businesses needed the Mount to return to its usual vibrancy.

“We had a couple great events over the weekend with the Fisher concert, and it was great to see some joy being brought back into the town and boosting the moral of our locals.”

“We are looking for the community to get in behind and support local businesses, for people that are outside of town, you know, come have a weekend here, support local cafes and our hospitality sector, our retailers and help us move forward.”

Banner also acknowledged the cruise ship schedule provided some relief, but said summer was a time where hospitality and retail businesses made most of their money.

“To not be able to trade through this period had significant finical implications, not just for the immediate, but their plans for how they get through winter.”

He said the business association was looking into running events to “drag in a little bit of foot traffic”.

“We would love you all to come back into the Mount, we would welcome you with open arms,” he said.

“Many people have been reaching out to me and asking what they can do to support and that really is the way that you can support our local community, it keeps people employed it keeps businesses open.”

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/04/significant-financial-implications-for-mount-businesses-after-deadly-landslide/

Source: Radio New Zealand

will outsource more functions in a measure aimed at reducing its cost base.

Around 270 jobs head office jobs will go from the Warehouse, and more functions will be outsourced, in a measure aimed at reducing its cost base.

Chief Executive Mark Stirton said the company’s cost base was unsustainable for a value retailer.

The job losses are expected to cost the Warehouse around $6-million in redundancy costs this year.

More to come …

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/04/270-head-office-jobs-to-go-as-the-warehouse-restructures/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Insurance Council says although one insurer has stopped offering home policies in some South Island towns, it’s not an industry-wide issue.

RNZ has revealed that the company had halted new home, business and landlord insurance policies in the West Coast town of Westport, due to the high flood risk the town faces.

The insurer had also stopped offering new policies in the north Canterbury township of Woodend, along with Rolleston and Lincoln, RNZ reported.

It has also emerged AA has a blanket exclusion for new policies in Blenheim, with several residents contacting RNZ about the issue.

In a statement, AA Insurance told RNZ the temporary restrictions were in place because the company has reached the maximum level of exposure to seismic risk it can take on in the areas.

Meanwhile, the government has launched a probe into high home insurance costs.

Insurance Council chief executive Kris Faafoi told Morning Report AA had made the “difficult decision” not to issue new policies, due to its current exposure.

“It’s only one insurer – it’s not an industry-wide issue. They’re obviously making a business decision based on the exposure they’ve seen with customers in one particular area.”

He said customers needed to shop around and other insurers were already picking up the business in the affected areas.

He denied the country had reached “a tipping point” with insurance because of its natural hazards, including seismic risk, and the impact of climate change, however, insurers had been warning for soe time of the higher risks the country was facing.

“The risk of events becoming more severe and more frequent is real and as a country we need to deal with that, not just to protect communities from the kinds of damage that has been caused over the last couple of weeks but also to keep insurance accessible and affordable over the long term,” Faafoi said.

He welcomed the government review of insurance costs. Many people would not realise that 40 percent of the cost of premiums was due to taxes and levies.

Treasury has highlighted that insurance companies were more profitable in this country than in Australia.

Faafoi responded that New Zealand had a high risk profile – it was the second highest in the world, according to Lloyds Premiums, and this had a flow-on effect, he said.

In 2023 insurers had a $4 billion exposure to events such as Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland anniversary weekend floods for private customers, so they needed to ensure they had strong balance sheets.

There were peaks and flows around insurance payouts relating to major events and hopefully premium prices were starting to stabilise.

There were 22 members of the Insurance Council, so it was a competitive environment and customers had choices.

On the review, Faafoi said: “It’s a pretty short and sharp review … The government wants to work with the insurance industry to get an understanding of the drivers of premiums and we welcome that.”

The council hadn’t heard what was required as yet but was keen to cooperate.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/04/insurers-block-on-new-policies-not-a-tipping-point-for-nz-customers-insurance-council/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A cancer sufferer says he’s been so discouraged by what he’s discovered about early KiwiSaver withdrawals that he hasn’t even tried to get much-needed money out of his account – and wants the system to change.

The man, who wants only to be identified as Christopher because he has not told his teenage children about his prognosis, said he had been given about three years to live.

He was told in August that his cancer was stage four and terminal.

“At the time of discovery in August, the doctor said that based on what he saw, I only had a handful of months left. Fortunately, I have private health insurance and was therefore able to actually be seen and start treatment. If I hadn’t already had private health insurance, I’m sure I would have died before I was able to start treatment, if I’d been forced to rely strictly on the public health system.”

He said researching what was involved in a hardship application for KiwiSaver was “so discouraging” that it did not make sense to go through it and be rejected.

“I’ve got limited time and fighting with someone that’s holding my money and refusing to give it up is just one more stress I can’t afford.”

He pointed to a case that was dealt with by Financial Services Complaints Ltd, in which a woman wanted to withdraw her money early.

She too had incurable cancer and was not expected to reach 65.

She applied on the basis of serious illness but was declined because the supervisor for the scheme said she did not meet the criteria because she was expected to live at least another 12 months.

She argued it was unfair because she was not going to need the money for retirement. She said it was also unfair to say she was able to work because she was sacrificing time with her family to do so.

FSCL said the decision to decline her application was reasonable given that she did not face an imminent risk of death, which was determined as likely to happen in the next six to 12 months.

Christopher said he had lost his job as a public servant and had eight months without work before he found a contract role that lasts until June.

“Different kinds of cancer have different effects. Pancreatic cancer for example, is extremely painful and quite brutal. I’ve got bowel/colon cancer so the immediate first-order effects are moderate in comparison. However, things like the side-effects of chemo, the fact that treatment is two days out of five working days … it’s a lot for an employer to be willing to deal with. Those two days are strictly for the treatment/chemo infusion. The next day … it’s hard to even get out of bed. For me, that’s every other week.

“And that’s not even going into the various side effects of the medication, like puking, hyper-sensitivity to cold, brain fog and so forth.

“Even when I move, I’m super slow compared to a few months ago … Future contracts mean I have to disclose my diagnosis and hope that doesn’t mean I lose the contract to someone that doesn’t have cancer.”

He said living in Wellington with a mortgage and two kids meant that he had to work.

“I’ve got two or three years where I’ll be able to essentially function but … living ain’t easy. And dying is surprisingly hard too it seems. Instead of being able to spend time with the family, I’m either working or sleeping.”

He said the system should change.

“In theory, it’s my money. The government is apparently confident enough in my ability to manage it and get good returns, that they’ve cut the amount they’re willing to match.

“And yet trying to actually do something with it, people are treated as if they’re applying for a loan and have to justify it to the bank/service provider. I understand that there need to be rules to prevent people withdrawing it willy-nilly but when you’re talking about someone literally dying … I think it’s a bit ridiculous.

“I don’t deserve to actually enjoy the couple of remaining years of good life that I have and instead have to wait until I’m knocking on the hospice door, before they’ll reluctantly agree that they guess they can release my money? It feels like the banks/service providers consider it to be their money and it’s massively inconvenient for them when we need access to it. With the amount of profits the banking sector has turned in over the last few years, it’s kind of hard to swallow that these rules are in place just for my own good.”

David Callanan, general manager of corporate trustee services at Public Trust, said he was sorry to hear about Christopher’s situation. He said while he could not speak about a specific case, in general people could apply to withdraw money under significant hardship or serious illness criteria.

“Under a serious illness application, people may meet criteria for ‘imminent risk of death’ as stated by law, allowing a full withdrawal of their KiwiSaver investment. The Financial Services Council’s guidelines interpret this as the person being diagnosed with a terminal illness with 18 months or less to live.

“However, supervisors and providers are encouraged to take a commonsense approach and the supervisor assesses each application individually.

“As part of the withdrawal application, the person will need a doctor or nurse practitioner to complete a declaration form confirming their illness. This form asks the medical practitioner to give a detailed description of their patient’s condition and attach any supporting evidence.

“Under a serious illness withdrawal application, a person may meet criteria to withdraw if they are totally and permanently unable to work due to their illness. This could allow them to access a full or partial withdrawal, or one-off costs.

“A person can also apply to withdraw on significant financial hardship grounds. In most cases, this could allow them to access an amount equivalent to up to 13 weeks of living expenses, including any one-off costs. We encourage people to speak to their KiwiSaver provider in the first instance to discuss early withdrawal options.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Australian accountants are still getting paid more than New Zealanders – but the local sector had a bigger pay bump in the past year.

That’s according to the Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand (CAANZ) remuneration survey released on Wednesday.

It showed that members’ median pay was up 0.3 percent in Australia for the year, while New Zealand’s was up 6 percent.

People who were full-time employees in New Zealand were earning a median $153,000 a year. Part-timers were earning a median $98,800.

In Australia, full-time employees were getting a median A$160,500 (NZ$185,800) and part-time employees A$138,664 (NZ$161,000).

Full-time employees in the United Kingdom were earning a median GBP 133,522 (NZ$303,500).

Charlotte Evett, general manager NZ regions at CAANZ, said there had been higher salaries in Australia through the history of the survey.

“Australia is a powerhouse economy compared to ours… they have the big mining engine in minerals that we don’t have. But it’s still very, very good pay in New Zealand.”

She said it was notable that Otago accountants reported a 27 percent pay increase year-on-year.

“Nelson was up 11 percent, Canterbury was up 7 percent. Even the South Island and West Coast were up 6 percent. If you compare that to Australia, they had some good growth, Queensland was up 10 percent but apart from that ours are certainly standout numbers.”

She said that was part of the “two-speed economy” that had been seen in other sectors recently as Auckland and Wellington were slower to recover.

“On top of that I think we’d be remiss not to look at lifestyle… central Otago has got rivers, lakes, mountains, snow, beautiful weather… the story has been New Zealanders are moving to Australia in droves. While that is true, I think the report shows that Kiwis should look at specific regions in New Zealand before considering Australia.”

In New Zealand, general managers were earning $287,000, chief financial officers $270,400 and directors $215,080.

In Australia, CFOs were earning the most, at A$280,800 (NZ$326,000) and directors $231,000 (NZ$268,100).

Aucklanders topped the New Zealand table.

The largest pay growth was seen in the not-for-profit sector in Australia and corporate New Zealand.

The survey showed that while 76 percent of people had received a pay increase, almost a quarter had received 2.5 percent or less.

Only 8 percent of New Zealanders had experienced a pay increase of more than 10 percent. But 21 percent of those aged 20 to 29 had received such a lift.

New Zealand’s gender pay gap remains at 24 percent while Australia’s is 14 percent.

Artificial intelligence is expected to transform accounting further in the near future, with new tools emerging to assist with tools such as GST returns.

Evett said the industry was making the most of it.

“When you look at accounting back over time, I think it continues to and historically has moved with technology faster than any other profession. When you think of technology as the abacus, the calculators, then we’ve gone to cloud computing and now AI. So, I think it’s very exciting.

“It’s definitely has and continues to reshape accounting, but it’s not replacing accountants. Most New Zealand organisations would say they’re using AI and report positive results, especially in finance teams.”

She said it could be used to free accountants up to add value, spend time and build trust. Recent research by Infometrics had shown there would be a shortage of 15,000 accountants over the next five years. “Pretty exciting when you combine that with technology.”

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/04/how-much-do-accountants-actually-earn/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Home insurance premiums fell across all regions of the country in the last year, even in areas prone to weather-related risks, new Treasury data shows.

The availability of insurance from multiple underwriters also improved in most hazard-prone areas, despite major insurer AA Insurance halting new policies in selected postcodes.

However, areas in high flood risk zones are still attracting thousands of dollars a year in extra premiums, in some cases.

Actuarial consultancy Finity has monitored insurance premiums on behalf of Treasury since late 2022, for a dataset of properties chosen to match New Zealand’s natural hazards profile.

The addresses are real but other information, such as property age, sum insured and construction materials, has been randomised so that the ‘houses’ in the dataset are not real people’s homes.

Since October 2023, the monitoring has expanded to include 1710 properties in suburbs around the country that are known to be flood-affected, either by river or surface flooding.

Smaller subsets are used to monitor pricing and availability for other hazard risks, such as landslides.

The most recent report, based on October 2025 data but released on Tuesday, showed that premiums had fallen since October 2024 – the first drop in pricing since monitoring began.

That was true for every region in the country.

Nationally, the average cheapest premium available fell from $1999 a year to $1886.

In its report, Finity said that multiple insurers had implemented decreases, driving the average price down.

“New business prices peaked around mid to late 2024 and have been falling since, driven by favourable reinsurance conditions and a benign period of natural perils losses.”

The monitoring occured prior to the recent massive storm and flooding in the upper North Island.

Experts have previously warned that insurance will become prohibitively expensive or impossible to get at all for some properties, as the risk from climate change-driven weather events continues to rise.

RNZ revealed last week that AA Insurance has temporarily stopped offering new home insurance policies in Westport because of the town’s flood risk.

The Finity data was collected prior to that decision – which AA Insurance informed Buller District Council of in late December.

However, there was “clear evidence that many insurers are using flood risk as a driver for their online underwriting criteria”, the Finity report said.

“Availability is limited in some high risk flood areas, specifically Avondale, Edgecumbe, Woolston and Westport,” the Finity report said.

“For example, the majority of low and high flood risk quotes in Westport only received quotes from two underwriters, with only one [property] quoted by three or more underwriters.”

As flood risk increased, availability dropped, the report said.

“High flood risk locations received approximately twice the number of rejections as locations with no flood risk.”

For insurers who did provide online quotes, the additional flood premiums were now higher.

The average quote for some of these properties was more than $1000 extra, up to a maximum quote in one case of $9250.

The report noted AA Insurance’s approach to new policies in “specific postcodes with very high seismic risk”, where a temporary halt had been placed on new policies.

RNZ reported on Tuesday that north Canterbury township Woodend was among those postcodes, along with Rolleston and Lincoln.

The pause, which began last September, also appeared to apply to Blenheim and the neighbouring settlements of Renwick and Seddon.

“Any impact from this restriction on the data shown will be outweighed by the wider increases in online availability in high seismic areas,” the Finity report said.

Overall, 95 percent of homes in the seismic dataset could get an online quote from at least two of the four underwriters included in the Finity monitoring (IAG, Tower, AA Insurance and Vero) – a small jump from 93 percent the year before.

That was mostly due to improved availability in Canterbury, central Wellington and the Hutt Valley.

Since the fatal Mount Maunganui landslide last month, landslide risk in New Zealand had earned heightened public attention.

The Treasury data did not show any evidence that insurers were charging additional premiums for properties with a high landslide risk – in fact, these properties attracted slightly lower premiums than the national average.

However, it noted that insurers were paying attention to landslide risk, with Tower expanding its property-level risk-based pricing last year to include landslide hazard.

Tower chief executive Paul Johnston said that had allowed the company to classify 93 percent of its customers as ‘low risk’ or ‘very low risk’, with an average reduction of $70 in premiums for those properties.

A ‘couple of percent’ had been classified as ‘very high risk’, with increases to their premiums.

A third of those increases were over $100 but Johnston would not say what the largest premium increase was.

For properties facing very large increases, “we’re calling them individually and talking to them about that and what we can do”, he said.

An Insurance Council spokesperson said it was “important New Zealand takes a long-term view on the risks from natural hazards as we face the prospect of more frequent and severe events due to climate related events”.

“We support a government-led approach to mitigate and adapt to the changing climate and an agreed set of natural hazard and climate risk data so we are all on the same page.

“This in turn will help reduce risk, protect communities and keep insurance accessible in the future.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand authors have missed out on an annual payment that some describe as a key part of their income.

The Public Lending Right (PLR) scheme makes a payment to authors each year, when they have sufficient books in New Zealand libraries.

The payments are made in December from a government fund of $2.4 million. In 2025 there were 1541 registered and the per-book rate was $5.19.

But this year, a number of authors did not receive the payments they were told they were due.

Authors have to confirm their eligibility for payment every year, whether or not they have new books in libraries.

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) said the National Library became aware of an issue with the payments for 2025, in late December.

“Due to an administration error, 318 authors received an email in error in July confirming they were registered for the scheme when, according to our records, they were not  registered.   

“These authors did not  receive  a payment when 1248 eligible authors received their PLR payment in mid-December. A portion of these authors would have been eligible for payment had they registered.

“We have been in contact with all authors to apologise for any upset or inconvenience this has caused and advise we are considering options to put things right. Authors financially impacted by the error will receive further contact regarding next steps once decisions have been finalised.”

It said it was also reviewing its administration of the scheme and usability to stop the error happening again.

“We have had useful feedback from authors about how the registration process could be improved. A key recommendation  from authors is an automated response in real-time to let them know that their registration has been received would resolve many concerns.”

One author, Linda Jane Keegan, said she was sure she had registered but when she queried the lack of payment, she was told she had not. She said she had been counting on the money.

“The PLR payment is a huge chunk of income for me, and I was expecting it to cover some expenses. Not receiving it when I was expecting to caused significant financial stress in what is an already high-cost time of year.

“I am also worried that even after putting time and mental energy into contacting the DIA to resolve the issue, that a payment won’t be possible because the fund, as a limited pool, has already been divided and paid out.”

NZ Society of Authors spokesperson Anna Mackenzie said it was a concern that the error had happened.

“That this arose at all also highlights how overdue we are for an overhaul of the PLR legislation, which was written in a pre-digital world and in a particularly prescriptive manner.”

She said she had been told about half of the authors who were incorrectly told they had registered would have been eligible for a payment.

Mackenzie said New Zealand was behind other countries when it came to compensating authors for their work. There current rules did not allow for payments for electronic copies or for copies in school libraries.

“It’s a very inappropriate-in-today’s-world piece of legislation. It can only be changed at the behest of the minister and many ministers have been spoken to over the last 15 years and often they’ll say that, yes, they understand and they see it’s a priority, but we are yet to get that to the point where we’re even looking at a review.

“However, the current minister has indicated that she does think this is an issue that should be addressed, so we are once again hopeful that this will get back on to the table and be looked at properly.”

The society said the requirement that 50 books of a particular title are stocked in libraries was also unfair.

*Disclosure: Susan Edmunds is one of the registered authors who receives this payment and received it successfully in 2025.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Blenheim residents say AA Insurance has stopped offering new home insurance policies in their town, following similar decisions in Westport and parts of greater Christchurch.

The insurer would not confirm that Blenheim, and the neighbouring settlements of Renwick and Seddon, were subject to its temporary halt.

However, several residents contacted RNZ to say a blanket exclusion for new policies appeared to be in place.

AA Insurance’s online portal declined to provide quotes for a dozen addresses that RNZ tried across the three locations.

A message onscreen said the company was unable to offer insurance because of “the suburb or town where your home is located”.

RNZ revealed last week that the company had halted new home, business and landlord insurance policies in the West Coast town of Westport, due to the high flood risk the town faces.

The insurer had also stopped offering new policies in north Canterbury township Woodend, along with Rolleston and Lincoln, RNZ reported on Tuesday.

There, AA Insurance said that it had reached its maximum exposure limit to seismic risk.

The company would not confirm if new policies in Blenheim were being declined for the same reason, or for flood risk like Westport.

Parts the wider Blenheim area flooded last winter after the wettest June on record since 1942, and some residents in Renwick were evacuated.

AA Insurance head of underwriting Dee Naidu said managing risk exposure was common practice in the insurance industry and the list of areas with temporary restrictions was not static.

“We are always monitoring where we are growing and the accumulation and exposure to risk from that growth. We have no plans to introduce any new temporary restrictions beyond those that have been previously reported on.”

None of the restrictions affected existing customers, Naidu said.

Blenheim woman Shelley Tapp moved to the town at the end of last year and was surprised when AA Insurance turned down cover for a house she was trying to buy.

The agent she spoke with on the phone was unable to provide any detail, she said.

“I asked him why, and he said, ‘I can’t tell you why, it’s just too high risk.’”

Tapp and her husband inspected council records and previous insurance claims and could see no problem with the property.

“That particular property has never had earthquake damage, it doesn’t have any claims for flooding.”

Tapp said she asked the real estate agent, who told her that AA Insurance was declining new cover for the 7201 postcode, which encompassed Blenheim.

The couple ended up buying a different house, insuring it with AMI instead of AA Insurance.

“I thought there’s no point me going back to AA because they told me no.”

The company needed to be transparent with people about why it was declining cover in certain areas, Tapp said.

“I think other insurance companies do it as well. It creates uncertainty around the property – you think, is it something wroing with the property itself?”

Other residents who got in touch with RNZ reported a similar experience.

“We enquired about insuring a new build in Blenheim yesterday and discovered that AA have blacklisted Blenheim,” one said.

Another said he had his request for home and contents cover in Blenheim declined “because they said they were not taking on any more risk here”.

A third person, who had been insured with AA Insurance for a decade in his previous house, said he and his wife were unable to get a new policy when they moved within Blenheim in May last year.

“They would not insure the new house at all. The advisor was apologetic and mentioned they wouldn’t be covering Blenheim due to the risk.”

In a written statement, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said it was up to individual businesses to decide how they managed their exposure to risk.

Treasury’s annual insurance monitoring surveys “indicate that there is reasonable availability of online insurance quotes in areas of higher seismic risk”, she said.

The Natural Hazards Commission declined to comment, referring questions to the Insurance Council.

An Insurance Council spokesperson said insurance remained generally available across New Zealand.

“The insurance industry has consistently said it’s important New Zealand takes a long-term view on the risks from natural hazards as we face the prospect of more frequent and severe events due to climate-related events.”

The council supported “a government-led approach to mitigate and adapt to changing climate and an agreed set of natural hazard and climate risk data so we are all on the same page”.

The current Natural Hazards Commission levy, and the cap the commission paid out for natural hazards claims, were sufficient to maintain insurer confidence, the spokesperson said.

“The real solution lies in proactively reducing underlying risk, including avoiding development in high-risk areas, investing in resilient infrastructure, improving building standards, and sharing consistent natural hazard data.

“These steps would reduce losses and signal to global reinsurers that New Zealand is managing its risk exposure, helping to stabilise costs.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

If you’re in the market for a new house, you might be wondering what to offer on any you’re interested in.

Do you offer the asking price? Try to cut 10 percent off? How hard do you negotiate?

As new data from Realestate.co.nz shows a 1.5 percent dip in average asking price in January, Cotality has confirmed that the gap between what sellers are asking and buyers are willing to pay appears to be shrinking.

Chief economist Kelvin Davidson said, excluding auctions, the median discount that buyers paid on the original list price of properties sold in 2025 was 3.8 percent.

It was 4.2 percent in 2024, 4.6 percent in 2023, 5.1 percent in 2022 and 2.9 percent in 2021.

Gisborne had the biggest discount, at 5.9 percent. That was followed by Northland at 5.5 percent and the West Coast at 5 percent. Taranaki had the smallest, at 3.1 percent.

Davidson said that could be affected by sellers in Taranaki setting more reasonable asking prices to start with.

“In some ways it’s a marketing tool. You’re never quite sure if someone is just hoping for too much of whether they’re actually setting a reasonable asking price or what their true motivations might be.

“Over time the availability of information to both sellers and buyers has widened. Any time, anybody can look up a free valuation estimate or you could come to Cotality, for example, and pay for a higher grade one but either way that information is widely available. It suggests that the chances vendors can sneak an above-market asking price in there have probably reduced because everybody’s got the same information and they are going to know what’ s unrealistic.

“I guess it applies to buyers as well …the chances putting in a sneaky 10 percent under offer and getting it accepted are also reduced because maybe asking prices are more realistic to start with.

“The scope for an excessive price is probably reduced but at the same time the scope for buyers to get a sneaky deal is probably reduced.”

The data does not include properties that went to auction.

Property prices have been broadly flat in recent years even as vendor discounts have reduced, suggesting it is sellers who have shifted their expectations.

“The longer the flat patch goes on the more people are saying ‘I just want to get this done I’ll set a more reasonable asking price’,” Davidson said.

“I think if you’re a market watcher, maybe you’ve been thinking about selling, maybe you held back because you thought ‘oh the market might pick up I’ll wait’. Now you might not necessarily be… you have to sell at some point. I think in general the fact those discounts have been slowly trending down suggests people are just being a bit more realistic than they might have been a few years ago.”

Realestate.co.nz said national stock levels rose 2.3 percent year-on-year in January, the first time the number of available properties for sale hit more than 33,000 in January since 2014.

Gisborne led the pack, with a 15.1 percent increase in available stock.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/how-much-less-than-asking-price-are-house-buyers-paying/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Toyota Aquas are New Zealand’s most stolen car – but how can you keep your insurance costs down if you own one?

AMI Insurance said it received more than 9000 vehicle theft and attempted theft claims in 2025.

Toyota Aquas were 8 percent of all stolen vehicle claims, it said, followed by Toyota Corollas at 7 percent and Nissan Tiidas at 6 percent.

The data also showed Toyota Aquas were disproportionately targeted, with a theft rate nearly four times that of the country’s most insured vehicle, the Toyota Corolla.

For every 1000 insured Toyota Aquas, 54 had a theft claim, compared with 15 per 1000 Toyota Corollas.

Auckland had the most vehicle theft, followed by Canterbury and Waikato.

Executive general manager of claims Steph Ferris said claim numbers had been lower recently, after a peak in 2023.

“Lower crime rates, improved security systems in newer vehicles, and New Zealanders adopting security practices – including being more mindful about where they park – likely play a part in this.”

AMI said older cars were more likely to be stolen. Nearly nine out of every 10 stolen vehicles was more than 10 years old.

“Older vehicles often lack modern, electronic encrypted locking systems, making them easier for thieves to compromise,” Ferris said.

Justin Lim, spokesperson for insurance comparison site Quashed, said a Toyota Aqua was typically 37 percent more expensive than a Corolla to insure with a comprehensive policy and 47 percent more expensive for third-party fire and theft policies.

“Insurance providers price their policies very differently.

“There is a difference of up to $1262 [a year] for a comprehensive policy. This means that on the higher end, insurance providers are charging $2000-plus for a policy, while on the lower end, they are charging $1000 or less. The same is true for third-party fire and theft, where we see a data variance of $667.

“Car owners should compare at least four to five providers to find the most competitive deal and policy for them.”

One Auckland woman said the cost of insuring her Aqua was a major factor in the decision to sell it.

“Last year we were thinking about freeing up some cash to put towards buying a house and realised we didn’t really need two cars for our household, so decided we should sell one. Although we actually used the Aqua more frequently and it was more fuel-efficient than our other car, the insurance costs made getting rid of the Aqua a better financial move,” she said.

“When we first got the Aqua in 2019 the insurance costs weren’t too bad, but it increased dramatically in 2023.”

In December 2022, the car was $71.78 a month to insure. The next year, it jumped up to $143.65 and then in 2024 it was $183.54 a month.

“In May 2025 we switched insurance companies for both cars and our contents. With the new insurer, we paid $136.07 per month for the Aqua. That was a better deal, but I still thought the premium was ridiculous given that the market value was about $7500 at the time. We’re currently paying $67.49 per month for our other car.”

Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman Karen Stevens said models that were more frequently stolen were likely to be more expensive to insure.

“Insurers look at risk-based pricing. If it’s likely to be a higher risk in terms of theft, the premium will take that into consideration. That’s why consumers are always asked about modifications – they’re likely to make the vehicle more attractive to thieves.”

Consumer NZ insurance specialist Rebecca Styles said insurers might add a higher excess for high-risk cars, too.

“Where you park your car is likely to factor into the price of your premium, too.”

Ferris said people could protect themselves by parking down a driveway or in a garage if possible. If they could not, they should look for a well-lit area.

Car alarms, immobilisers, fuel cut out switches, steering locks or car tracking systems could also be used.

Ferris said people should always lock their car doors when driving and consider keeping the windows up, especially in low-speed areas.

AMI said about 64 percent of stolen vehicles were recovered and 40 percent were repairable.

AMI’s top 10 stolen cars list

• 1. Toyota Aqua
• 2. Toyota Corolla
• 3. Nissan Tiida
• 4. Mazda Demio
• 5. Toyota Vitz
• 6. Toyota Hilux
• 7. Subaru Impreza
• 8. Mazda Atenza
• 9. Toyota Mark X
• 10. Mazda Axela

Most stolen vehicle by region (regions ranked by claims volume)

• 1. Auckland – Toyota Aqua
• 2. Canterbury – Toyota Aqua
• 3. Waikato – Toyota Corolla
• 4. Wellington – Toyota Corolla
• 5. Bay of Plenty – Toyota Corolla
• 6. Manawatū – Nissan Tiida
• 7. Northland – Toyota Corolla
• 8. Hawke’s Bay – Mazda Atenza
• 9. Gisborne – Mazda Demio
• 10. Taranaki – Toyota Corolla and Nissan Tiida
• 11. Otago – Toyota Aqua
• 12. Southland – Suzuki Swift
• 13. Nelson – Nissan Tiida
• 14. Tasman – Mazda Demio and Toyota Corolla
• 15. West Coast – Toyota Hilux
• 16. Marlborough – Honda Jazz

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/insurance-cost-doubles-in-a-year-what-its-like-to-own-nzs-most-stolen-car/