Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

Demand for consumer credit rose 9.4 percent last month, reflecting an increase in the number of mortgage applications and an elevated number of personal loans.

Credit research firm Centrix’s January Credit Indicator showed the increased demand for credit was somewhat offset by mixed number of credit arrears, and rising business liquidations.

“Arrears on the consumer side continue to follow the seasonal patterns. But that’s 0.8 percent down on last year. So that’s a really good sign that the tides are starting to turn, which is fantastic,” Centrix chief operating officer Monika Lacey said.

New household lending also rose in the December quarter, with lending for new mortgages up 14 percent, while non-mortgage lending rose 12 percent.

Arrears

Mortgage arrears were steady, though vehicle loans were under pressure.

The South Island had the lowest number of arrears, while the central North Island and East Cape had the highest level of arrears.

Company failures highest since 2010

“On the business side, they’ve also seen an increase in demand, but liquidations have definitely hit their highest peak since 2010 largely impacted by hospitality, retail, transport and construction, and this is largely as a result of IRD (Inland Revenue) increasing their activity following a softer approach over the Covid time,” Lacey said.

The number of company failures rose to its highest annual level since 2010, with liquidations unevenly seen across sectors, with rises in hospitality (+50 percent), retail trade (+34 percent) and transport (+27 percent) accounting for most of the failures.

There were also increases in construction (+13 percent), manufacturing (+12 percent) and property/rental (+17 percent) recording liquidations, even as credit defaults declined and average credit scores improved in many areas.

In contrast, agriculture stood out as the most resilient sector, with liquidations down 11 percent year-on-year, supported by stronger credit demand and improving financial health.

“Agri has definitely had a bit of a turnaround. There’s been a lot of positive news in the agricultural sector. So long may that continue,” she said.

“We’re hearing a little bit more about other good economic signals filtering through onto the market, so I think we are starting to see some signs of recovery.”

Credit demand

Overall business credit demand edged slightly higher, rising 0.7 percent year-on-year over the period.

Growth was highly concentrated in a few sectors, led by a 38 percent increase in hospitality credit demand, reflecting improving trading conditions and funding needs.

Education and training (+17 percent) and retail trade (+13 percent) also recorded solid gains, while demand elsewhere remained subdued.

“I think the increase in mortgage activity is largely attributed to refinancing,” she said.

“And personal loans, we would tend to see an uptick at this time of year anyway, but I think it’s certainly a sign that consumers are feeling a little bit more confident and perhaps have a little bit more cash in their pockets.”

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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/demand-for-consumer-credit-rises-as-mortgage-applications-personal-loans-increase/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Interest rates might have started to rise but what home loan borrowers pay in interest is likely to keep falling through this year.

BNZ chief economist Mike Jones said while 2025 was the “year of the refix” – with 81 percent of fixed-rate mortgage borrowers refixing, the highest percentage in 13 years – there was still more activity to come this year.

Over 2026, 68 percent of fixed rate loans were due to come up for renewal.

“It’s the coming six months in which mortgage term expiries are the most pronounced relative to average,” he said.

“There’s approximately $132 billion worth or 34 percent of total borrowings. The long-run average is 27 percent.”

He said there would mean cash flow improved for many borrowers.

“A hypothetical one-year $300,000 loan locked in a year ago at 5.74 percent could currently be refixed for another 12 months at a rate of around 4.5 percent. That would result in an interest saving of a little over $300 a month.”

He said, in November, the average rate being paid was 5.17 percent.

“It has been a slow 14-month descent from the 6.39 percent peak in October 2024.”

He expected it could get to 4.5 percent by the middle of the year.

“It’s kind of a weird time because you’ve got mortgage rates seemingly bottoming, starting to turn higher but for the average person coming up for renewal they will still most likely be experiencing or be facing a menu of options lower than what they were previously paying, just by virtue of the slow-moving nature of the refixing beast.

“That is obviously a key plank of the economic recovery last year and also this year… we think we’re about 80 percent of the way through that process of refixing on to lower rates with roughly 25 points’ worth of easing still to come through that pipeline over the next six months.”

He said many people were choosing to pay off their mortgages more quickly rather than using their savings to spend.

“There’s a strong element of that, keeping your repayments perhaps similar to what they were but applying the extra relief from lower interest rates just to principal. We’re seeing quite a bit of that. I think there’s quite a lot as well that’s just been soaked up more or less immediately by the higher costs that households are staring into.”

Some was going into discretionary spending, he said.

“It’s helping turn that retail sector but it’s certainly not turning with any great force which I think speaks to the fact of some of those pressures that households are still under.”

The reduction in debt would be good for long-term sustainability, he said.

He said the average home loan rate being paid by households would probably hit the bottom of this cycle in the middle of the year.

“It take some time to turn and it will stay at a relatively supportive level for a period of time and probably all of 2026.”

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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/2026/02/02/more-interest-rates-relief-coming-for-homeowners/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Central Otago District Council (CODC) has granted road access to an Australian company planning an open-cast gold mine near Cromwell.

Santana Minerals will be able to use two roads linked to the Bendigo-Ophir Gold Project in exchange for an annual payment of about $1.25 million, adjusted for inflation, once gold production begins.

The company submitted a fast-track consent application for the open-cast-mine in November.

Panel convenors have indicated a decision could take 120 working days.

In a message to shareholders on Monday, Santana Minerals described the access agreement as endorsement from the council and said it would deliver multi-generational benefits to the district.

However, Central Otago district Mayor Tamah Alley said the council had not taken a position for or against the project and acknowledged the community was divided.

“This agreement ensures that if the project goes ahead, the Central Otago community receives tangible, long-term benefits, while maintaining transparency and public accountability,” she said.

“Our focus is on ensuring decisions are made objectively, lawfully and with full consideration of the information available.”

Santana Minerals said the agreement covered Thomsons Gorge Road and Shepherds Creek Road – a paper road – including a 20-metre strip on either side of each.

Any future road stopping – where the roads cease to exist as public roads and become private use only – would still require Public Works Act or Local Government Act approval, the company said.

“If any roads are stopped, replacement routes would be built to ensure continued public access,” Santana said.

Santana Minerals chief executive Damian Spring called the approval a material step forward for the project.

“This agreement resolves a long-standing statutory access requirement, provides durable clarity around roading and access arrangements and establishes a transparent framework for long-term community benefit.”

Council excluded the public – advocacy group

In a statement, advocacy group Sustainable Tarras said the access agreement was disappointing.

“We believe there are considerable legal pitfalls to granting such access and we have repeatedly pointed these out to CODC and cautioned them to take time to consult, consider the consequences and involve the wider community. Today, in announcing this behind-closed-doors decision, they’ve made it clear that community is secondary to their private negotiations with Santana.

“We do not understand the urgency with which CODC has decided to conclude this agreement with Santana. From the information we have so far, it again excludes the public and local community impacted and fails to take into account what Santana has clearly stated it will do with these roads.”

On Saturday 150 people attended a lunch to raise money to fight the mine, including actor Sam Neill and artist Grahame Sydney.

The Wine not Mine event organised by Sustainable Tarras was supported by 12 local wineries and held close to the proposed mine site.

Neill described the mining plans as ruinous for the region and said a growing community of ordinary, hard working people were joining together to fight a “very large, very powerful, very well-funded Australian mining company”.

Sydney spoke of the “breathtaking, mystical, pristine and ever-changing” landscapes of Central Otago and urged people to fight against the “madness” of an open-cast gold mine.

Sustainable Tarras said funds from the event would cover expert fees and legal support costs as the group made submissions to the fast-track process.

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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/2026/02/02/australian-mining-giant-santana-minerals-granted-road-mine-road-access-despite-protest/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The former owner of the luxury Fiordland Lodge near Te Anau is relieved a weekend fire did not completely destroy the building.

Guests were evacuated when the fire broke out late on Saturday night, with crews from across Southland battling the blaze.

Fire and Emergency investigators were examining the cause of the fire although it was not being treated as suspicious.

Former owner Robynne Peacock and her late husband Ron, built the lodge in 2002 and ran the luxury accommodation for years until Peacock and her business partners sold it late last year.

Peacock arrived at the lodge on Sunday afternoon where a fire inspector showed her the damage.

She said most of the building was intact, despite part of the roof collapsing and damage to the kitchen and conference room, where the fire was believed to have started.

“I did not want to see it burning,” she said.

“It all looks quite fixable and some of the lodge hasn’t been touched at all so we were pleasantly surprised and thrilled to see it’s not catastrophic.

“The fire inspector assured us that the structural integrity of the building was good in most areas.”

Peacock said it was a terrible blow for the new owners and she wished them well as they recovered from the fire.

Owner Vicki Onions previously confirmed no one was injured but all guests were moved to local hotels in Te Anau as a safety measure.

She was grateful for the swift response and support of emergency services, Onions said.

A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said the fire had badly damaged the building.

“However, firefighters were able to contain the fire which prevented some of the structure from being destroyed,” they 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/2026/02/02/former-owner-of-luxury-te-anau-lodge-thankful-fire-didnt-completely-destroy-building/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A long-running hole-in-the-wall fish-and-chip shop in Wellington is closing its roller door for the last time at the end of this month.

Rice Bowl Burger Bar’s current owner, Wawa Shen, said the small kitchen and serving counter – which opens out onto Riddiford Street near Wellington Hospital – had run since the early 1970s.

She said her family had owned the business since 2009, but now the building’s landlord planned to redevelop the site.

On a notice posted to the shop’s Facebook page, they thanked their customers for their “continued love and support over the last 17 years” .

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/02/long-running-wellington-fish-and-chip-shop-rice-bowl-burger-bar-to-close/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A number of concerns have been raised about proposed changes to the Commerce Act which could disadvantage consumers, deter investors and increase the cost of doing business.

Law firm Chapman Tripp said some of the changes to the Commerce (Promoting Competition and Other Matters) Amendment Bill were positive, but others were problematic.

“Setting aside the several changes that we think have the potential to be really positive, for the ones we have concerns about, there are probably two categories,” Chapman Tripp competition and antitrust partner Lucy Cooper said.

“One is that they will add unnecessary uncertainty, time and cost to the Commerce Commission processes.

“And the other one … is the Commerce Commission will get a lot more discretion or power without solid process protections, or the ability to really scrutinise its work.

“I don’t intend that to be a criticism of the current commission at all. It’s more that in general, as you know, proper process is absolutely critical to making sure we can see that the service we are getting from the Commerce Commission is robust and fair.”

Mergers and acquisitions

She said a specific concern dealt with the commission’s ability to retroactively take action against a series of acquisitions that would, in hindsight, be found to have a cumulative effect of lessening competition.

“The focus should remain on the lawfulness of the marginal transaction, rather than allowing the commission to retrospectively impugn earlier transactions that would otherwise be lawful if considered in isolation.

“Allowing the commission to treat a sequence of separate transactions as a single transaction and find them all unlawful on the basis of their combined effect could also undermine investor confidence.”

Cooper said the commission had an existing power to block a transaction, when it had potential to put a company or organisation in the position of becoming a dominant player in a particular market.

“The commission already enforces against serial acquisitions, as demonstrated by successful action against Wilson Parking in local parking markets. We see no evidence that the commission is unable to intervene in serial acquisitions.”

Predatory pricing

Another proposed change would automatically see any below-cost pricing, that lasted for a period beyond three months, in a year, as predatory pricing.

“This is a change to the current position,” it said.

“The current regulation kicked in when a dominant player offered low prices as a means to price rivals out of the market or to deter a new entry.

“We consider that this test should remain.”

The proposed change could also act as a deterrent to pro-competitive low pricing and disadvantage consumers.

“We urge a rethink.”

The closing date for submissions on the bill is Wednesday 4 February.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/02/concerns-raised-about-possible-changes-to-commerce-act/

Source: Radio New Zealand

KiwiSaver members are withdrawing from their funds in record numbers, but one financial services complaints resolution service is warning that some people don’t realise how difficult it can be.

RNZ reported last week that more than 10,000 more withdrawals were made from KiwiSaver for hardship reasons last year than in 2024.

Inland Revenue data shows there were 58,460 withdrawals for hardship reasons in 2025, 10,000 more than were made for a first home.

In total, $514.8 million was withdrawn from KiwiSaver because of hardship, and $2.1 billion for a first home.

Financial Services Complaints Ltd, an ombudsman service for financial services, said it dealt with a 41 percent increase in disputes in the first half of its reporting year.

Ombudsman Susan Taylor said KiwiSaver withdrawal rejections were the biggest contributing factor.

People were seeking help with their bills but unaware of how hard it could be to meet the hardship requirements of the KiwiSaver Act.

“People often don’t realise how strict the KiwiSaver rules are, leading to complaints about declined applications,” Taylor said. “We see people with ideas about using their KiwiSaver for longer-term financial relief.”

In one recent case, she said a woman wanted to withdraw KiwiSaver funds to buy a tiny home, rather than renting, but was only able to secure a smaller, short-term financial solution.

“We understand this is frustrating when you need financial security, but KiwiSaver savings are meant for your retirement,” she said. “You can’t access your funds before retirement, except for a few limited exceptions, and this is reflected in the act, rules and industry guidance.”

People who want to get their KiwiSaver savings out due to hardship reasons usually need to be in a situation where they cannot meet minimum living expenses, cannot pay the mortgage on their home, need to modify their home to meet special health needs or need to pay for medical treatment.

The decision about the withdrawal is made by the scheme’s supervisor.

Earlier, a woman who contacted RNZ said any suggestion accessing funds was easy was false.

“The process is invasive and onerous. You cannot apply, until you are effectively destitute – less than $3000 cash to your name.

“You must open your entire life to scrutiny, including providing the financial details of a partner. There is no guarantee that the hardship withdrawal will be approved, so as you watch your savings dry up, your stress levels ramp up, your mental health suffers and dark thoughts often crowd your mind.”

Taylor said the increase in complaints more generally reflected the wider economic challenges New Zealanders faced.

“We expect high dispute levels to persist as long as economic conditions remain difficult for many”. The rise also signals consumers’ growing awareness of dispute resolution services and their willingness to challenge financial providers and demand accountability.”

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/02/kiwisavers-struggle-to-get-their-money-amid-record-hardship-withdrawals/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A wet spring season filling hydro storage lakes looks set to deliver bumper half-year earnings to the country’s big four generator-retailers.

A preview by investment firm Forsyth Barr suggests the four major companies – Contact, Genesis, Meridian and Mercury – will make combined operating earnings, before hedging and one-off costs, of $1.86 billion for the six months ended December.

That compares with a combined $1.28b in the same period in 2024 when the sector was struck by dry hydro conditions, a lack of gas and the need to rely on coal, sending wholesale prices surging.

Genesis has benefited from a marked reduction in burning coal and gas for generation, Contact from taking over Manawa Energy, Mercury from the full hydro lakes, and Meridian simply from not having a repeat of its dismal 2024 half-year.

“The key takeout is that the sector performs best financially when hydro generation is abundant,” Forsyth Barr said.

But no relief for consumers

Forsyth Barr director Andrew Harvey‑Green said lower wholesale electricity prices would not mean lower household power bills.

“North of 95 percent of all energy bought across residential as well as commercial customers is purchased at a fixed price, so what happens in the wholesale market in the short-term has no impact on those prices,” he said.

“It’s the same reason why, when prices were incredibly high in winter 2024, you didn’t see big profit increases for these companies.”

He said abundant hydro and renewable generation this year meant gentailers would not need to rely on high‑cost thermal generation, reducing wholesale costs – but not consumer prices.

Profit upgrades possible, dividends less so

While first‑half operating earnings were forecast to rise by an average of 45 percent, Forsyth Barr expected dividends to increase by only about 4.5 percent.

It noted that long‑dated wholesale electricity prices remain high at $159/MWh, still well above the cost of building new wind and solar generation – a clear signal from the market that more capacity was needed.

All four gentailers had major investment commitments under way or planned, and Harvey‑Green said most of the extra earnings would be earmarked for building new generation, rather than boosting shareholder returns.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/02/profits-up-for-gentailers-but-prices-and-dividends-expected-to-stay-flat/

Source: Radio New Zealand

If 2026 is the year you get your money life sorted, you may be wondering where to begin. Our money correspondent Susan Edmunds has 5 areas to focus on.

Set a budget

It is often helpful to start thinking about what you want to achieve and breaking your goals down to things that can be done in the short term, and those that might take a bit longer.

Short-term goals might be things like a holiday in a couple of months, while longer-term might be saving a house deposit or for your retirement.

Make sure your goals are clear and achievable. They need to be measurable so you know when you’ve achieved them or are closer to them. Save $50 a week, for example, rather than “save more”. Celebrate your wins along the way to keep you motivated.

It helps to know why you’ve chosen the goals, too.

Doing something just because you think you should is a lot less motivating than doing it because it’s going to improve your life or make you happier.

Liz Koh, financial coach at Enrich Retirement, says setting goals first and then thinking about making them happen is a useful “top down” approach that is more likely to result in behavioural change.

That’s important because, for lots of us, it’s the behavioural change that needs to happen to help us stick to a budget.

Koh recommends focusing on small steps.

“One of the biggest mistakes people make is trying to get ahead too quickly. Money is an important part of life that serves a multitude of purposes. It is not something you can do without.

“For the same reason that you can’t reach your goal weight on an overnight diet or suddenly become as fit as an Olympic athlete, you can’t go from being broke to being seriously wealthy in a short space of time.

“The first lesson in changing your relationship with money is to set attainable goals that reflect the reality of your current financial situation. It is better to take small steps and be successful than to set unrealistic goals and fail. Achieving small steps may give you the confidence to gradually take bigger steps. If you have never been able to save, trying saving just a small amount each week and increase the amount over time.”

Your budget can be a tool to help you get to the goals, because it’ll give you a clear picture of what’s going on.

This is where you will be able to work out whether you can free up money to put towards your goals.

Tom Hartmann, personal finance spokesperson at Sorted, says people either do a budget to make what they are already doing work, or to try to do something different.

Either way, it often helps to draw up a budget showing your current situation: How much is coming in, what’s going on, what you’re spending money on. Then you can see what can be adjusted.

You can usually get a good idea of what’s been happening by looking at previous bank statements. Some banks have apps that track your spending to do this for you.

“We’re creatures of routine, we keep going back to the same places, spending the same amounts, especially over a given year,” Hartmann said.

“If you download your statements over a year, where you’re spending money is the usual suspects.”

If you want to save money, or find a surplus to start investing, you should be able to use your budget to identify areas that can be trimmed. You could also look at how your budget would work with different levels of KiwiSaver contribution.

If your budget shows money is really tight and there is no surplus to speak of, you might be able to use it to identify the pressure points and areas where change could be most effective.

Don’t rewrite your budget to be overly harsh, though. If you restrict yourself too much, it can be hard to stick to.

How to get rid of your debt

It’s a good idea to start with a realistic idea of how much debt you might be able to clear within what timeframe.

Think about how much money you might have available to put towards debt repayment, and set some targets from there.

Koh said people should start by working out what they owed. Even if it’s uncomfortable reading, it’s a good idea to make a list of all your debts and how much interest is being charged on them.

” If you have many small debts you might be surprised at what they add up to,” she said. “Rank your debts in order of priority for payment. Set up an automatic payment to make additional voluntary payments on the first debt on your list. Leave your other debt payments at their minimum level. When the first debt is paid off, start on the next one on the list and keep working through until all debts are repaid.”

It often makes sense to try to clear the highest-interest debt first because this is costing you the most money. Check that you don’t incur any extra fees or penalties, though – if you do, you might need to shift your focus elsewhere.

Another option is to focus on your smallest debt first. That means you’re likely to clear it relatively quickly and can move on to the next debt. That series of small wins can be quite motivating.

If you have a number of loans and you’re finding it hard to manage them all, consolidation could be an option. This is where you take out one big loan to pay off all the smaller ones.

It usually means you only have to worry about one payment a month instead of several – which can be helpful from a life admin perspective.

But it’s worth checking the terms of your consolidation loan, though. A higher interest rate or longer term can mean you end up paying more overall for your debt overall.

If you’re struggling to pay the debt, longer term and smaller repayments can still be sensible, even if it’s more expensive – as long as you don’t feel that having consolidated the debt gives you a free pass to go and take out more.

If you’re seriously struggling with any of your debt, your first call should be to the lender. They can talk to you about what your options might be.

It’s really important not to just ignore debt that has become a problem. This never makes it go away.

How to save money

Saving money is probably near the top of people’s New Year’s resolution lists.

Whether you’re cringing when you look at your bank statements or just want to put aside a bit more next year, there are a few ways you could do it.

Sorted’s personal finance spokesperson Tom Hartmann says people should think about the home organisation guru Marie Kondo if they’re looking for ways to save.

Kondo talks about only holding on to things that “spark joy”.

“We can do the same thing with the things we spend money on,” Hartmann said. “For example with your subscriptions – there’s no way you get the same level of happiness from all the things you subscribe to. For me Spotify is up the top, I’d rate that a five out of five but Netflix is lower down.”

He recommends rating the things you spend your money on between one and five out of five and cutting or reducing the things that are a two or a one.

“It makes it easier to cut things back and you don’t end up feeling deprived because you keep the things that really give you joy – ice creams for the kids, for me that’s way up high.

“Often it’s the cheap and cheerful things that end up staying in the budget.”

Match your spending with saving – this requires a bit more money, but can be really effective.

The idea is that if you spot something you want to buy, you only make the purchase if you can put the same amount of money into investments or savings.

If you want some jeans for $200, you have to also put $200 into Sharesies, for example.

Don’t decide you’ll wait until the end of your pay cycle and save whatever is left over. Put the money into savings as soon as it arrives in your account.

“Set up an automatic transfer to take money out of your account each payday and put it in an account that is not shown on your internet banking. Send it to an account in a different bank to keep it even more out of sight. You will be surprised at how even a small amount saved each week will quickly grow,” Koh said.

It’s that aspect of paying yourself first that makes KiwiSaver so successful. If you can channel that same “out of sight, out of mind” approach into other savings, you might be surprised at how fast the balance can grow.

Your bank might also offer you the ability to round up your transactions and put the difference into savings.

You can often choose how much you want to round up, whether that’s to the nearest $1, $2 or more. That might mean if you buy a coffee for $5.50, for example, the transaction is rounded to $6 and the difference saved. Even small amounts add up this way.

There are other apps, such as Feijoa, which automate “rounding up” by sending the difference to your KiwiSaver account.

If you’re feeling really motivated you might choose to have a “no spend” month, week or even day of the week. This means that for that period of time, you resolve to not spend anything. This could take some planning – but it’s not effective if it just means you shift your spending to other times.

Don’t forget to track your success and celebrate milestones along the way – it can help you stay motivated.

Manage your mortgage

If you’ve got a mortgage, one of your priorities might be to try to get rid of it as soon as possible.

The past few years of higher interest rates have been tough going for lots of people. As interest rates come down, many borrowers have more options.

There are a few changes you can make that could get you closer to that goal.

Increase your repayments

First up, the most obvious one.

If you make bigger repayments, you’ll be able to clear your home loan faster. What surprises some people is how much of a difference even a small increase in your home loan repayments can make, particularly if you haven’t had your home loan for a long time.

Interest rates have fallen over the past couple of years from more than 7 percent to less than 4.5 percent.

If you have a $500,000 loan at 4.5 percent, you’ll pay about $585 a week over a 30-year term including $411,413 of interest. If you can increase your payment to $600 a week, you’ll only pay $385,836 of interest and clear it about a year-and-a-half sooner.

You can increase your repayments by opting for a higher level when your loan comes up to refix. Sometimes you can ask your bank to increase them during the term, too, or make additional lump sum payments. There is generally a limit on how much extra you can pay back during a fixed term before you have to pay a fee.

When your loan rolls off its fixed term, you could also make an additional one-off payment before you refix again at whatever repayment rate suits.

Anything you can do to pay the balance off faster will save you a lot in the long run because it means the principal will be smaller and there won’t be so much to attract interest – which compounds – over the life of the loan.

Split your loan

You can split your loan into a number of smaller loans. This allows you to take advantage of different interest rates.

At the moment, longer fixes are more expensive than shorter ones but are still relatively low by historical standards.

You might choose to fix part for a longer rate for some security and have some on a shorter term to save money in the short term.

It also means you can choose to make higher repayments on one of the loans, and maybe aim to clear that before switching your attention to the other.

Ask for low-equity margin to be removed, or for special rate access

If you bought your house a while ago with a small deposit, you might be paying a low-equity margin on your interest rate.

You might also be paying higher rates than the “specials” banks advertise for borrowers with more deposit.

You could ask your bank to reassess your situation – if your property has improved in value or you’ve paid off your loan a bit, you could have improved your equity position, or you might find the bank is willing to negotiate.

Shop around for a sharper rate

If you don’t think you’re getting a good deal from your lender, you could look at what else is available in the market. A mortgage broker could help with this.

Banks have also been competing hard with cash back offers that can be worth quite a significant amount of money if you’re willing to shift.

Consider off-set

If you have savings that you want to keep separate from your mortgage, you could set up an offset facility.

That means you forgo the interest on your savings but also reduce your mortgage interest bill. It’s sometimes possible to do this by linking with family members’ accounts, too.

Consider revolving credit

If you have the discipline, a revolving credit facility can work well. This means you section off part of your home loan into what is basically a large overdraft and usually becomes your main transaction account.

You then aim to put your spending on your credit card each month and have your income going into your new revolving credit account.

This means you reduce the interest you pay on that portion of the loan for the period that income is sitting there. Hopefully when you pay your credit cards at the end of the month, there’s a bit left over to reduce what you owe. You need to be a bit careful with this, though, because over time the idea is that you’ll build up money in that account as you pay it down and you don’t want to be tempted to spend it again.

Advice from a mortgage adviser or a home loan specialist from your bank can really help you to set a strategy and stick with it.

Maximise your KiwiSaver

KiwiSaver is an increasingly important part of many New Zealanders’ financial lives. We pull millions of dollars out of the scheme each year to buy first homes, as well as helping out in financial emergencies, and it is a big part of lots of people’s retirement planning.

The nature of long-term investment means that decisions that you make at the outset can have a big impact over time, so it’s important to get things set up well as early as possible.

A great first place to start is to think about your risk profile. This refers to your willingness to take risk with your investment.

Someone who needs to withdraw money in three months’ time to buy a house won’t have much appetite for risk at all, because they will need to know exactly how much money they have available.

But someone who is thinking about making a withdrawal in 40 years will have much more appetite for risk because they have many years to ride out any turbulence in the market.

There are online tools that can help you work through what your risk profile might be.

You might think: Why bother to take any risk at all?

In investing, risk can be a positive because it should boost your returns.

“The theory goes that the higher the return you are after, the more risk you are willing and will have to take. The more volatility you can accept in the short term, the greater the expected return in the long term,” said Dean Anderson, founder of Kernel KiwiSaver.

Once you know what sort of risk you should be taking with your investment, you can choose the right KiwiSaver fund for you.

Most KiwiSaver funds can be described as either cash, conservative, balanced, growth or aggressive. You can find variations on this, and some providers offer single-asset funds that you can add to your portfolio, investing in things like property and cryptocurrency. Some providers also allow an element of DIY and stockpicking for individual investors.

If you can take more risk, a growth or aggressive fund is likely to be the best option for you.

“These funds typically offer higher returns over time, but with more volatility. Given your horizon, you can handle those fluctuations in value and expect to benefit as a result,” Anderson said.

“As an example, if you’re in your late 30s and already have your first home, opting for a high growth fund could allow compound returns to maximize your savings by the time you retire.”

But if you might buy a first home within three years, a conservative or cash fund might be better. Many people have had the experience in recent years of going to withdraw their money and finding the market had dropped at just that moment.

Cash and conservative funds focus on preserving your balance but generally deliver lower returns.

When it comes to adding in things like pure portfolio funds or investments in cryptocurrency, it could be a good idea to do this with some personalised advice.

“Cash has the lowest risk, therefore the lowest expected return. Of the four major asset classes (cash, bonds, property, shares), shares have the highest risk and the highest expected return. Share funds are lower risk than individual shares, and crypto assets, commodities and “private investments” are even higher risk,” Anderson said.

You’ll also need to think about which provider is right for you. You can go with your bank, or another major fund manager, or one of the smaller providers.

Fees vary, as do investment management styles. You might think a low-fee manager that tracks a market index is a good option, or you might be looking for a manager who can beat the market, or one who delivers a responsible investment strategy that aligns with your beliefs.

There are lots of options so it’s worth taking the time to find one that’s a good fit. Tools like the Sorted Smart Investor can be handy here. Mindful Money is a great platform for anyone wanting to check what their fund might be invested in.

You’ll need to choose how much you want to contribute. If you’re an employee, you can choose to automatically contribute 3 percent, 4 percent, 6 percent, 8 percent or 10 percent of your gross salary. Your employer will match your contribution at 3 percent and some offer higher rates. Those default contribution rates are slowly increasing over time and could increase further if National is successful at the next election.

The right contribution for you will probably depend on your goals. A 10 percent contribution rate will boost your balance much faster. But the money is locked in until you buy a first home or turn 65.

If you’re a while away from doing either of those things, you might only contribute what your employer will match and invest the rest of what you have available somewhere else (provided you are sure you will actually so this).

Some providers suggest working out how much of a lump sum you want at retirement, and then working backwards to determine what you need to save now to get there.

It can be really hard to think clearly about something that’s a long time in the future, though, so my advice if you’re still decades away from retirement is just to save and invest as much as you can while meeting other financial goals such as paying off a mortgage and enjoying your life.

Don’t set and forget your KiwiSaver. Check on it every year to see whether it’s doing what you’d expect, given the market movements. Even if you’re not working for a while, try to contribute at least $1042 so you get the full Government contribution each year. It’s not as big as it was but it’s still worth having!

When you get to 65, you can withdraw all the money in your KiwiSaver account. But you don’t have to. You might still have 30 years of living costs to fund, so you might choose to leave some or all of it invested and earning returns for a while. Personalised advice can help here too, to come up with a plan to draw down your money over time in a way that works for you.

The Society of Actuaries have some rules of thumb and Sorted also offers a tool to help.

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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/2026/02/02/hoping-to-get-your-finances-in-shape-in-2026-these-tips-will-help/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A North Island district council says its ratepayers can’t afford to repair extensive damage logging trucks are causing to one of its key roads.

The Rangitīkei mayor said his council was spending around $3.5 million dollars on repairs to the country road between Taihape and Napier, also known as the Gentle Annie.

Dozens of trucks daily have been using the road to carry export logs from the central North Island to the Port of Napier.

Andy Watson said it was not a national highway and was instead managed by the Rangitīkei and Hastings District councils.

He would be lobbying central government for support, ideally to increase the use of the rail network for carrying logs and freight.

“Funding the Gentle Annie Road for both councils is incredibly difficult,” Watson said.

“And yes we do get government assistance by way of what’s called a Financial Assistance Rate (about $66 dollars in $100), but it’s a huge burden on our rate-paying base.”

The issue has been compounded by the higher cost of sending freight by train, which Watson said had made trucking the default choice.

“I’d like to work with both governments, with government and the opposition about understanding the full cost to New Zealand on road versus rail,” he said.

“It’s a conversation I want to pursue this year.”

Despite these challenges, the Rangitīkei mayor had recently brokered a short-term solution to to get some of the freight on to rail.

Watson said the one-year contract announced last January, which took logging trucks off the Napier Taihape Road, had been rolled over another six months until July.

Around 27 truck and trailers each day would come off the high country road in the short term, but he was also pushing for a longer term solution.

Logs from the Karioi and Tangiwai forests near Ohakune will be railed from the Tangiwai rail yard to the Napier Port via Palmerston North, but that ends in the middle of the year.

Watson said the extension of the contract came as a relief, despite its short term nature.

“It’s great news that that contract has been put back in place for six months.

“We were putting 700-1000 tonnes per day on a log train that had to go down to Palmerston North and back up to Napier. I was fearful that the contract wouldn’t be renewed this year, because there is a greater distance to cart those logs down to Palmerston North and back up.”

KiwiRail, the owner of the forests, the Port of Napier and the log carriers are all part of the agreement.

“Several parties have contributed in various ways to make sure that contract can be renewed,” Watson said.

He said it also allowed for “major repairs” on the Gentle Annie, including re-sealing.

Last year, Napier Port chief executive Todd Dawson said the deal meant a “win for everyone”.

“It’s a great example of how export New Zealand benefits when everyone in the supply chain works together on sensible, efficient solutions that are sustainable and commercially viable for all parties,” Dawson said.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/02/rangitikei-mayor-says-ratepayers-cannot-afford-road-repairs-from-logging-truck-damage/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Australian media giant Nine Entertainment has acquired MediaWorks’ parent, QMS Media, for AU$850 million (NZ$986m).

Nine also announced the sale of its Australian commercial radio assets to a private buyer for AU$56m.

However, QMS’ New Zealand operations appeared to be unaffected.

MediaWorks is a major player in the country’s commercial radio market with stations such as The Breeze, The Rock and More FM, and has a significant presence in outdoor advertising.

In an email to staff, MediaWorks chief executive Wendy Palmer said it was “business as usual” and its ownership remained the same.

“This change in ownership of QMS simply gives us more clarity and focus on what we do best at MediaWorks – deliver an amazing suite of radio brands, audio products and digital offerings to our partners and audiences alike,” she told staff.

Palmer said the company saw strong financial results in 2025 and was in “great shape”.

Nine Group chief executive Matt Stanton said it was a “critical milestone” in its transformation plans.

“The acquisition of this high-growth digital outdoor media company, QMS, further diversifies Nine’s revenue streams and adds scale to our advertiser and agency relationships,” he said.

“QMS is a highly complementary media platform, offering Nine the opportunity to drive significant value by leveraging our premium content on QMS screens and creating an unparalleled advertising proposition that spans from ‘sofa to street’.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

One of the things former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham’s son Brooklyn made headlines for this week was sharing “the world’s most expensive” wine with his wife, Nicola Peltz.

The details turned out to be a little murkier than that.

Media reported that it was actually unclear which wine they were drinking, but the restaurant in Montecito had a 1811 Château d’Yquem in its cellar, which last sold at auction in 2012 for about £75,000 (NZ$170,000).

This may have prompted questions from readers – including (but probably not limited to) how does a wine become worth such a lot of money? And might my bottle of Oyster Bay sauvignon blanc in my wine rack reach such lofty heights?

University of Auckland senior lecturer in finance Gertjan Verdickt studies wine investment and is also on the board of WineFi, a syndicate that lets people invest in a portfolio of wines.

He said there were a few reasons why wine could be a good investment.

For investment-grade wine, there was a fixed supply, he said, and increasing demand.

“Interestingly, if the Beckhams drink these expensive wines, the supply drops – while the demand generally does not. In economics, we also call this a Veblen good: as products become more exclusive, prices go up.”

He said there was also a convenience yield of about 2 to 3 percent a year that came from having investments that were real and tangible. This could also apply to art investments and things like handbags.

There was also a social aspect to wine investing, he said.

“You can show off the bottles you have to people. The most expensive one is called DRC, it’s about €20,000 (NZ$45,500) per bottle. The fact that you can say that you own this gives pleasure, and people are willing to pay for this.”

He said over the last 100 years the return on investment-grade wine had been about 6 to 7 percent.

“Over the short-term – the last 20 years – wine’s return is around 8 percent. On a risk-adjusted basis, it outperforms other asset classes, such as bonds. It produces a return just below equities, but with interesting correlations from a diversification perspective. In other words: adding it to your overall portfolio can decrease the risk of your overall portfolio.”

But he said there could be issues with it. Selling wine could be a slow process compared to selling shares on the share market.

“As such, investors ask for compensation – a liquidity risk premium – which drives up prices. So this means that wine investment should be a long-term investment.

“As such, investment-grade wine is wine that is more liquid than others: buying wine is easy, selling is the name of the game. In my dataset of 6 million observations, I have 175 labels that I consider sufficiently liquid to include in this category.”

He said people could invest in wine in a few ways. The auction house Webbs buys and sells a lot of wine.

“They generally focus on New Zealand labels, but also have some important French ones – mainly Bordeaux and Burgundy, some Champagne.”

In Australia, he said, Langton’s was probably the most active wine auction house in the world.

“They have everything, although the home bias is also very large there.”

People who bought their own wine to invest could store it at home or in a bonded warehouse, he said, but there would be some costs associated with that.

He said the average investment grade bottle of wine was about NZ$500, so people would need some capital to get started.

“In the fund space, it is depending on the kind of fund. You have private equity structures, where you need NZ$250,000, or WineFi, where you need, depending on the product, between £3000-£5000 (NZ$6800-NZ$11,300).

“Now, I see wine investing is on the rise, if someone creates a tokenised version of this, this will be the next big thing. Then you don’t need to buy the DRC anymore, but you buy a part of it. If you want to sell, you sell your token, not the bottle. So liquidity goes up, storage/insurance costs go dow,… I see lots of advantages.”

And as for that bottle of wine in your wine rack? Verdickt said whether it was likely to improve in value would depend on how cheap it was.

“Do you consider €150 (NZ$295) for a bottle a lot? Given that there are many stocks worth more, I don’t consider them expensive, although I don’t drink them on the regular.

“Tignanello, which is an Italian supertuscan, is priced at around €100-€150 (NZ$197-$NZ295) for a new bottle. This is also something I consider to be of investment-grade level. So yes, that will also improve in value.”

He said Felton Road had multiple wines that resold on the secondary market, although not often. “That’s why I don’t consider them of investment-grade level… Other wines you see often on Langton’s are Cloudy Bay and Ata Rangi… Again, I wouldn’t call them expensive from an investment perspective.”

He said it was not just about what you might like but also what would improve.

“I won’t go too deep into wine biology, but wine generally needs alcohol, tannins, acidity, body and taste to age well. That’s why you generally see more red wines on the market than white. So, if what you like ticks all of these boxes and will likely improve with age, then it can be an investment.

“Most wines, however, are consume-now wines – drink within two years – so that’s not very appealing. Also, most wines are mass consumption, which are also not very appealing. That’s why you don’t see a lot of non-vintage sparkling wines on the secondary market, but only vintage, because of that supply argument.”

He said Australia and New Zealand were lagging other markets when it came to wine. Eighty five percent of wines at auction were French.

He said the drinking window was important when determining how a wine’s value would change. Wines at the cheaper end of the investment scale tended to offer a higher investment return on average than the most expensive investment wines, 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/2026/01/30/how-to-make-your-wine-investments-sparkle/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Auckland Council has sold the city’s biggest film studio to a private company.

Dozens of major films, including Minecraft and Predator Badlands, were filmed at the long running Auckland Film Studios.

Auckland’s mayor Wayne Brown confirmed Xytech, an Auckland lighting supplier turned major industry player, had bought the studios for an undisclosed price.

“This is a win for our region’s outstanding screen production industry. Paired with Auckland’s stunning scenery it will increase the appeal of Auckland to a global screen industry,” he said in a statement.

“This is a good move that also delivers for ratepayers. We’ll be handing this over to a seasoned operator, and that’s where it should be.”

The sale, which will be settled on 27 February, came after the central government invested $30 million in the studio to build a pair of new sound stages in 2022.

In a statement, the council said it couldn’t confirm the sale price, but said the government’s $30m contribution would come back to the council to be held in a fund to reinvest in further screen infrastructure.

The terms of the sale would also require the site to remain a film studio for at least 10 years.

Auckland-based Xytech has grown into a major supplier of lighting and other film equipment for productions in the southern hemisphere since its founding in 1997, and opened its own X3 Studios in Wiri in 2020.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/01/30/council-sells-citys-auckland-film-studios/

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Consumer confidence lifts to 107.2 points from 101.5 in January
• A net 1 percent of households think it is a good time to make a major purchase
• Wellingtonians the most positive
• Mortgage holders remain more cautious
• A net 29 percent expect to be better off this time next year, up 7 points to the highest level since April 2021

The ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index is up nearly six points this month to 107.2, with anything over 100 considered to be a positive outlook.

ANZ chief economist Sharon Zollner said mortgaged households were still cautious, though Aucklanders were much more positive, with Wellingtonians the most upbeat at 109 points.

“Consumer confidence has lifted again and is at its highest level in four years. In a long-term historical comparison it’s still pretty average, but that’s positive compared to where confidence has been in recent years.”

She said the number of households thinking it was a good time to buy a major purchase was finally back in the black after lingering in negative territory for nearly four years.

“The housing market is going nowhere fast, but the steady improvement in consumer confidence seen in recent months will offer retailers hope that the pickup seen at the end of last year will persist.”

The current conditions index rose sharply to 97.7 from 90.4, the highest since December 2021.

“Lifts in activity indicators suggest the economic recovery in the second half of last year came more quickly than expected, but with the low-hanging fruit now picked, rapid growth gets mathematically harder,” Zollner said.

Perceptions of current personal financial situations rose 12 points to a negative 6 percent.

Still, a net 29 percent of respondents expected to be better off this time next year, the highest level in nearly five years.

The future conditions index made up of forward-looking questions rose to 113.5 points from 108.9, to the highest level since May 2021.

“There is a mix of headwinds and tailwinds facing the economy that in our view will add up to par growth this year,” Zollner said.

“Headwinds include rising interest rates, a stronger NZ dollar, high inflation in necessities, and uncertainty from the election and ongoing global turbulence.

“These are going up against tailwinds: interest rates are still estimated to be at stimulatory levels, private sector balance sheets are generally sound, and business confidence and investment and employment intentions are much stronger.”

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/01/30/big-cities-drive-up-consumer-confidence-in-latest-survey/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A global insurance giant has been warned by the Financial Markets Authority for failing to apply multi-policy discounts in New Zealand.

The FMA said Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance’s (AIOI) failure led to more than 5000 customers being overcharged almost $700,000.

The company self-reported the issue in May 2024, and the policies affected were sold through various car dealerships and online.

“Manual processes used to identify customers with more than one policy failed and customers eligible for discounts were not identified,” FMA executive director of response and enforcement Louise Unger said.

“We expect financial institutions to invest in quality systems and controls that enable them to deliver on advertised promises and to also identify issues and be capable of resolving those issues effectively and quickly.”

Unger said customers “should rightly expect” that promises would be honoured.

“In this case, AIOI acted responsibly in notifying FMA at its earliest opportunity, self-reporting the matter three days after it became aware of the issue.”

The FMA said AIOI took proactive steps to identify all affected policyholders, notify them and make remediation payments.

The company also took steps to prevent a repeat of the issue.

Over the past year, major insurers have stopped offering multi-policy discounts amid regulatory action.

In December 2025, Tower insurance was penalised $7 million for more than a decade of overcharging customers as it did not properly apply multi-policy discounts.

IAG was penalised a record $19.5m in October last year for overcharging nearly 240,000 customers by not giving them promised discounts and benefits.

AA Insurance was ordered to pay $6.2m in 2024 for failing to apply multi-policy and membership discounts, as well as guaranteed no-claims bonuses.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Another big name is leaving Newmarket, but the local business association says things are looking up for the Auckland shopping district.

Retailer Twenty-Seven Names told customers this week it had decided not to renew the lease on its Newmarket shop.

“Yes, it’s sad and yes, we’re a little emo about it. But we’re not in a position to renew the lease, and we’re choosing to honour the decade we had in that beautiful space rather than stretch it beyond what feels right,” it said in an email.

A number of shops in Newmarket have closed in recent years, including Smith & Caughey, Sportscraft and Route 66.

Retail consultant Chris Wilkinson said shopping areas in Auckland had been jostling for position in recent years.

“Newmarket has faced increasing competition as Sylvia Park continues to add new anchor attractors, while Commercial Bay’s retail and hospitality offer and the luxury quarter on Queen Street have won back shoppers who were being wooed by Westfield Newmarket,” he said.

But he said there were positive signs for the area, including university developments and public transport connectivity that would benefit from the City Rail Link.

“That will unlock new audiences and increased convenience which are key to driving growth in an otherwise fairly flat spending environment. Chemist Warehouse have secured the former Smith and Caughey site, and that will reinvigorate this prime retail strip significantly.

“Challenges have been around the suitability of spaces, with many older and smaller sites no longer being suitable for the needs of today’s tenants. A number of major occupiers moved from the retail strip into Westfield when the refurbished centre opened, and it’s taken time to backfill these sites.

“However, the fundamentals of Newmarket are strong, with significant spending power within its core catchment area and good connectivity. Newmarket is a favourite spot for boutiques to locate and hip brands like Nature Baby, although the decision by Twenty-Seven Names is really just reflective of the evolution of these brands in the way they connect with their markets.”

Newmarket Business Association chief executive Mark Knoff-Thomas said there had been a prolonged period of disruption as the area dealt with Covid and then the economic downturn.

“The last sort of six months, leasing activity has ramped up again. It’s very sad about Twenty-Seven Names closing, but that site has already been leased to another retailer coming in.”

He said there had been renewal in some of the areas that had been empty for a while.

“You’ll see in places like Broadway a lot of activity, a lot of fit-outs happening. Other examples like Nuffield St, over the back of Broadway, that’s almost completely full again with leasing.

“By mid-year we should be back up and getting towards where we were before Covid.”

He said times were still tough for retail, but the end of the year had been respectable.

“New Zealand’s been though a pretty tough time and I think there’s some really good reasons to be optimistic about the year ahead for all of us – not just Newmarket, but across the board.

“Every economic downturn has a tragic side of it but also has an opportune side of it as well, where new people come in and things get regenerated. I think we’re probably at that phase of the cycle now where new things are starting to happen.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

2026 could be a year in which the New Zealand share market shakes off the underperformance that has weighed it down since Covid hit, investment experts say.

For the decade until 2020, the NZX was one of the best performing share markets globally. But since 2020, it has lagged.

Mark Lister, investment director at Craigs Investment Partners, said it was well positioned for change.

“Last year we were up about 3 percent and many other markets were up much more than that, between 10 percent and 30 percent depending which market you’re looking at.

“We’ve been a major laggard and it wasn’t just last year, either. Since Covid, we’ve been flatlining which is in part due to our economy being in recession for a fair degree of that time while other parts of the world have not been in recession and have been ticking over nicely.

“Part of it is also the strength in the tech sector and so forth overseas, we don’t really have a tech sector so we’re never going to be able to ride that wave.”

Over the last five years, the NZX50 was up 1.69 percent, compared to 82.53 percent for the Nasdaq and 87.87 percent for the S&P500.

“Would I go as far as saying we will do better than some of those international markets over the next couple of years? Probably not, but I do strongly believe we will at least close that performance gap with other international peers. We’ll have a much better year in my opinion than we have had for the last four or five years.”

But he said markets were cyclical and the NZX could outperform again.

“You look at the 10 years leading up to the start of 2020, we, the New Zealand market, outperformed international shares in seven out of 10 years. So if you and I were having the same conversation on the 1st of January 2020, and we wouldn’t know that Covid was about to hit at that point, but if we were having this conversation then, we would be talking about how the New Zealand market has been so much better than international markets, and is there any point investing overseas? That was the story for the whole decade.

“When I cast my mind back to those years it was actually quite hard to get investors to have more international stocks because they were like but New Zealand’s been doing really well, why should I bother?”

He said if the tech sector hit trouble, New Zealand might look like a good alternative.

“We’re not as hyped up and frothy as other markets. I still think in a long-term sense, international markets look more inviting because they’re bigger, they’re more innovative, there’s more happening and the growth from outside New Zealand is probably stronger than it is here.

“But I think our market looks interesting to me at the moment and dividend yields are attractive. with term deposit rates and the OCR [official cash rate] lower than it has been for some time. So, and our market is a very tax efficient place to invest.”

Mike Taylor, founder of Pie Funds, said it made sense to expect more from the NZ market.

“But markets trade on sentiment as much as earnings. The election later this year may have an impact. I’d like to think a turn in the NZD is a signal that things are improving for NZ Inc, albeit off a very low base.”

At Generate, investment specialist Greg Smith said there were now signs of “genuine green shoots” coming through in the economy.

“As activity begins to turn, parts of the local share market could also start to perform better in the year ahead. It won’t be uniform, but the backdrop is gradually becoming more supportive than it was a year ago.”

Dean Anderson, founder of Kernel, said there were already bright spots in investment markets.

“The Emerging Opportunities Index, which is looking at smaller companies outside the large top 20 listed on the index and how they’ve performed, is actually up 17 percent in the past 12 months versus the S&P 500 in New Zealand dollar terms … which is up 9.2 percent.

“So what was driving that, though, and what’s been really interesting is that there have been a lot of smaller companies on the NZX over the past year that often fly under the radar of analysts, too small for the very large KiwiSavers who are so big they’re forced to basically only invest into the big names. And these companies have existed and they’ve had quite attractive ratios and look comparatively cheap. And what we’ve seen is they’ve now started to come on the radar of others for acquisition targets.”

That could generate very strong returns for investors in those companies, he said.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Can you still make money buying a property and doing it up to resell?

As data from Trade Me shows that buyers are moving away from ‘doer-uppers’, property experts are divided on how much value people can hope to add by renovating a home.

Trade Me said its survey of 2200 people found 49 percent of active buyers were looking for a house that already felt new or updated and 16 percent wanted a new build.

“The DIY dream appears to be fading. Only 6 percent of buyers are now explicitly looking for a fixer-upper, while just 15 percent are interested in original-condition properties. In a market with fluctuating building costs, many buyers would rather pay more for a finished product than face the uncertainty of a renovation,” Trade Me Property spokesperson Casey Wylde said.

Nick Goodall, head of research at Cotality, formerly Corelogic, said its data indicated that, at a high level, materially increasing the quality of a property would lift the value by 4 percent to 5 percent.

He said that would need to be more than just a new coat of paint.

“That figure is really looking at a full renovation. You’re probably talking about double-glazing the windows, modernising core areas like bathroom and kitchen.”

But he said some first-home buyers who did want to buy an older house and do it up might be doing it so they could enjoy it, rather than to make money.

“The improved value doesn’t necessarily matter if you’re going to be living in it for a decent period of time, and you get to enjoy the benefit of that improved quality, rather than doing it purely based on ‘if I spend $10,000, it’s going to increase the property value by $20,000’.”

He said most owner-occupiers would not be doing up a property purely with the idea of financial gain. “The data sort of proves that you need a pretty full-scale renovation to even get a 5 percent lift … you don’t do it for that reason, you do it to live in yourself.”

Investors would be looking at ways to improve the rents that could be charged, he said. “In which case they need to be pretty efficient with their renovation so they’re not overcapitalising on it.

“[They might be] going to be making a more significant change, such as adding that extra bathroom so that the capacity of the property increases and you can charge a higher total rent as well.”

He said there was also less of a difference in price with new builds at the moment than there had been at some points in the past, which meant more people could afford to buy new.

“The cost to build has slowed down, the growth in the cost to build has slowed down. So that gap’s closed up. And certainly for many people, new builds will still be an option because, the lending restrictions allow for more people to go into new builds.

“You don’t have to adhere to the LVR [Loan to Value ratio] restrictions. For example, if you’re buying new, DTI [Debt-to-Income ratio] is also exempted too. So I think there’s a few extra incentives to go and build new, which means that your demand might stay there.

“It means you’re probably going to be getting a smaller house … looking at a townhouse, for example, but at least it’s new and modern and won’t require any work. And the good news from that perspective from a first home buyer’s view is that there is plenty of them, particularly in Auckland, but also around the country. And I think that’s part of the reason we’ve seen continued high first home buyer activity is because those entry-level townhouses, particularly in Auckland, have been so prevalent that the options are there and they’ve not taken advantage of that.”

But investors said it should be possible to generate higher returns from renovations.

Property investment coach Steve Goodey said he had found that structural work such as replacing roofs or piling did not increase the value of a property because people assumed a house would have those things.

But he said cosmetic work could be cost-effective.

“If you buy well and get a discount when you purchase, maybe 10 percent, then you add 5 percent or 10 percent in value to it, that added 20 percent should allow the property to recycle and you can buy another property, too, which is always the way I have looked at it.”

Ed McKnight, economist at Opes Partners, said 5 percent seemed low.

“A standard rule of thumb is that is you spend $1 on a renovation, you want the value of the property to increase by at least $2. So for instance, if there was a $600,000 property and the investor spent $80,000 on a renovation, then a good investor would want the property to increase by at least $160,000 to $760,000. That’s a 27 percent increase in this example.

“Often those improvements would be reasonably extensive, including bathroom and kitchen upgrades, repainting and potentially repurposing an old dining room into a bedroom.”

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

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Source: Radio New Zealand

• Business confidence retreats 10 points from a 30-year high but still seen as strong
• Businesses own expectations drop 9 points, but still historically high at 52 percent
• Wage pressures start to lift modestly with inflation expectations the highest in 15 months.
• More firms expect to raise prices over the next in two years

January’s business confidence is down 10 points from December’s 30-year high but is still considered to be extremely strong.

ANZ Bank’s business outlook’s headline confidence indicates a net 64 percent expected better economic conditions.

While businesses’ own expectations fell by 9 points to 52 percent, that reading was also historically high.

“The economy has clearly turned higher,” ANZ chief economist Sharon Zollner said.

“Reported past employment is also rising and is back in the black for all sectors. That hasn’t been the case since late 2022,” she said.

She said reported past activity, which was the best indicator of GDP, rose 3 points to 26 — the second highest reading since August 2021.

“The less-good news is re-emerging signs of inflation pressure.”

Inflation indicators rose to the highest reading in nearly three years (March 2023) with prices expected to rise by 2.1 percent, with wage pressures also expected to increase.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/01/29/business-confidence-retreats-from-30-year-high/

Source: Radio New Zealand

About 200 pensioners have had the amount they receive in NZ Super affected this week because of a problem with the Ministry of Social Development’s IT system.

One man who contacted RNZ said he had been receiving NZ Super for more than 10 years, as well as a small proportion from Canada because he had worked there briefly.

But his NZ Super payment did not arrive on Monday.

When he called to ask what had happened, he was told there was a system error and everyone receiving Canadian or Netherlands pensions had their NZ Super suspended.

Paula Ratahi-O’Neill, the ministry’s general manger of centralised services, said it was working urgently to fix a fault that affected people receiving overseas pensions.

“The fault was in the IT system that updates overseas pension rates. It has caused a small group of people to have their NZ Super payments incorrectly assessed.

“This has led to some payments being suspended, and in other cases incorrect payments being made.

“We estimate that around 200 clients receiving overseas pensions have been affected. We will continue to monitor numbers.

“We are working with urgency to fix these payments and will be paying amounts owing to people by Friday. We apologise to those impacted by this fault.”

She said the ministry’s technical team was working “at speed” to stop other payments being affected and a data fix should be released by Monday.

Some overseas pensions that are deemed to be similar to New Zealand’s system offset NZ Super.

For every dollar people get from an overseas pension, their New Zealand payment is reduced by one dollar.

According to the government’s website, to count as a pension that offsets NZ Super, the pension needs to be part of a programme providing pensions or benefits, cover something that NZ pensions and benefits cover, such as old age or disability, and be administered by or on behalf of a country’s government.

Voluntary savings schemes generally were not included.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/01/29/hundreds-of-pensions-affected-by-it-error/