Indi (operating as The Independent Mortgage Company) is a New Zealand-owned digital home loan startup founded by former big-bank executives, including Anand Ranchord and David Woods. [1, 2, 3]

What Indi Does

• Digital-First Lender: It operates entirely online with no physical bank branches, reducing operational overhead costs.

• Floating Rates Only: It focuses exclusively on low floating-rate residential mortgages rather than offering traditional fixed-term options.

• No Lock-Ins: It avoids break fees, hidden charges, and caps on repayments, letting borrowers adjust payments flexibly.

• Conveyancing Support: It provides a panel of lawyers to handle legal conveyancing and covers the cost if you use them. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Just wanted to keep you across the news that Marriott International Inc. has signed agreements with CP Group, to bring three new hotels to New Zealand by 2029, adding 335 rooms to their portfolio in New Zealand and strengthening their growing presence in the region.


The agreement is expected to mark the country debut of flagship brand Marriott Hotels in Rotorua, as well as the debut of the Autograph Collection in Auckland and Wellington.

As part of the agreement:

• Rotorua Marriott Hotel will mark Marriott International’s entry in Rotorua as part of a conversion deal of the existing Arawa Park Hotel Rotorua, following a 12 month renovation slated to be completed in 2027.
• The Official Auckland, Autograph Collection is set to bring Marriott’s premium Autograph Collection brand to Auckland in 2028, marking the brand’s arrival in the city through the transformation of a historic building on Eden Crescent in Auckland’s central business district.
• Fable Wellington, Autograph Collection will bring the Autograph Collection brand to Wellington, anticipated to open in 2029, through the repurposing of the historic 1940s office building located on the corner of Lambton Quay and Stout Street.

Marriott currently operates two hotels in New Zealand; JW Marriott Auckland, and Four Points by Sheraton Auckland. Two new openings are expected in 2027, with Sheraton Christchurch and Moxy Auckland.

With the addition of the three CP Group hotels, Marriott is continuing to grow its presence across New Zealand, complementing its existing portfolio and pipeline of properties across the country and offering Marriott Bonvoy members more opportunities to earn and redeem points while exploring New Zealand.
Please see further details in the attached press release. Imagery is available here. Please let us know if we can assist with anything further.

New Zealand's rental divide deepens as average weekly rents rise and fall across the motu
Latest data from realestate.co.nz shows the national average weekly rent reached $637 in August, up just 1.5% – or around $9 a week – compared with $628 per week in August 2025.
But the national figure masks considerable regional variation, with rents moving in both directions across the motu.
Marlborough recorded the strongest annual growth, with the average weekly rent rising 8.2% from $511 to $553. Canterbury was up 5.7% to $622, while Otago increased 5.6% to $653 and Waikato was up 4.1% to a record $587 per week.
At the other end of the spectrum, average weekly rents declined year-on-year on the West Coast (-6.5%), Gisborne (-5.2%), Southland (-4.8%), Manawatū/Whanganui (4.5%) and Wairarapa (-3.3%).
Sarah Wood, CEO of realestate.co.nz, says the divergence is a reminder that there is no single New Zealand rental market.
Population movement, employment, local economies, and of course supply, can all influence demand, and those factors don't move uniformly across New Zealand. For renters and landlords alike, the market that matters most is increasingly the one in their own backyard."
Highlights of the New Zealand Rental Report – August 2026:

• Waikato reaches record high rent of $587 per week in August, up 4.1% from $564 a year earlier.
• Wellington also recorded above-average growth, rising 3.6% to $621 per week.
• Auckland remained steady with an average weekly rent increase of just 0.8% year-on-year, from approximately $684 to $689.
• The number of properties for rent at the end of August was 8,379, just 0.9% higher than the 8,303 available in August 2025.

Retirees could make their pension stretch thousands of pounds further by relocating overseas, according to new research from Cargo Force.

The study ranked 130 countries using factors including affordability, purchasing power, healthcare and quality of life to reveal the destinations offering the best overall value for retirement.

Malaysia tops the global rankings with an overall score of 8.51/10, thanks to its low cost of living, affordable housing and strong healthcare system. North Macedonia follows in second place at 8.23, while Japan(8.08 ), Vietnam (8.10), and India (8.05) complete the top five.

Although Malaysia claims the overall crown, India offers the greatest spending power of any country in the top 10, with the equivalent of £3,768 in local purchasing power for every £1000 spent in the UK. Vietnam also does well in this factor, with £1000 in the UK stretching to around £2,535 in Vietnam.

Japan boasts the highest life expectancy among the top-ranked destinations at 84.7 years, alongside one of the strongest healthcare systems on the list.

Despite scoring highly for healthcare (80) and life expectancy (81.3) , the UK ranks just 81st overall with a final score of 6.98. Higher day-to-day living costs mean retirees' money doesn't stretch as far, with countries such as India, Vietnam and Malaysia offering considerably greater purchasing power for the same retirement income.

The findings suggest that when Brits are looking for the best balance of affordability, healthcare and quality of life, they may benefit from looking beyond the traditional European retirement hotspots.

He said it was mostly property developments that went to mortgagee sales.

The argument goes like this: every dollar that goes into residential property is a dollar that should have gone into a "productive" business. Property investors add nothing. They simply outbid first-home buyers, sit back, collect rent and clip the ticket. It is a neat political slogan. It is also wrong, and dangerous.

The tenants lodged an application on 27 April 2025 seeking compensation and exemplary damages for breaches of sections 38, 45(1)(b) and 45(1)(c) of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA). The tenants subsequently amended and itemised their claims as follows:

a. Full rent refund on the basis that the premises are uninhabitable for the period from 27 February until the tenancy ends at weekly rent of $620;

b. Cleaning costs (materials and time ) of $2,500;

c. Replacement of contaminated appliances of $2,800 (in addition to $2,000 already paid by the landlord to the tenants for a replacement washing machine and dryer);

d. Medical expenses and sick leave of $5,600;

e. Consequential and emotional damages, including trauma, disruption of daily life and time lost of $43,100;

f. Ongoing inconvenience and health monitoring of $5,000;

g. Potential future health risks resulting from lead exposure of $100,000;

h. Recognition of serious health harm and risk exposure of $75,000;

i. The filing fee paid of $27.

In relation to health impacts, on 10 March, Mr McCombs was feeling very unwell with headaches, blurred vision, and kidney pain. He believes this was caused by elevated lead levels in his blood. A blood test conducted that day later returned a result of 0.14 umol/L (<0.24). According to Health NZ blood guidelines (produced in evidence by the landlord) this level is within normal background levels of exposure.

34. Mr McCombs also states that he experienced the same symptoms again and visited the Hospital Emergency Department on 28 March. The doctor initially indicated that it could be a gastro illness and advised that they could not test for lead. Mr McCombs then went to the After-Hours clinic but they could not do a lead test either. Mr McCombs did not produce any evidence of his visits to ED or After-Hours such as discharge notes or other written records.

35. A blood test conducted on 31 March showed a result of 0.15 umol/L (<0.24). Again, according to Health NZ blood guidelines (produced in evidence by the landlord), this level is within normal background levels of exposure.

Monthly rental market update
13 May 2026

Renter activity stabilises in April, renters continue to prioritise affordability

Renter activity eased in April following several record-setting months, but remained well ahead of the same time last year.

Barfoot & Thompson received more than 24,450 enquiries about properties for rent during April, dropping from a recent peak of over 32,000, but still 25.4 percent higher than in April 2025.

The number of people viewing and applying to rent properties followed a similar pattern, with both measures down in March but up 12.1 percent and 19.4 percent respectively year-on-year.

A total of 574 properties were let during the month, 9.1 percent more than April 2025.

Anil Anna, General Manager Property Management at Barfoot & Thompson, says the April dip was not unexpected coming off several strong months of activity, and given the coincidence of school holidays, Easter and ANZAC Day during the month.

"Many households looking to settle into a new home at the start of the year will now have done so, while ongoing economic uncertainty and cost of living pressures could be making people more cautious about moving," he adds.

Pricing conditions across Auckland, Northland and Bay of Plenty remained broadly stable through April, reinforcing that the market continues to be driven more by value and affordability than urgency.

For example, the average weekly rent in Auckland was virtually unchanged from last month, sitting at $696.29 in April, down 46 cents from March and increasing less than 1 percent year-on-year.

"While renter engagement remains well ahead of where it was this time last year, affordability is playing a big role in renters' price expectations and decision-making," says Anil.
The proportion of properties rented at their initial advertised price continued to increase in April, with more than 70 percent securing tenants without requiring a reduction.

"This is the highest proportion we've seen for two years and points to stronger alignment between landlord expectations and what renters are prepared to pay.
"Landlords who price realistically from the start are generally seeing stronger engagement and faster results, which can be especially important as renter demand levels off."

New Zealand heads toward the 2026 election facing three interconnected difficulties that are shaping voter sentiment: a deepening cost‑of‑living crisis, a perception of political instability within the governing coalition, and unresolved attacks on our constitutional integrity through co‑governance.

These pressures have been intensified by global events, particularly the conflict in the Middle East which Treasury warns could worsen inflation, slow growth, and push unemployment higher than previously forecast.

Get rid of the Maori seats. They have been a disaster particularly in the current term; their voter turnout is very poor. . Get rid of co-governance and other apartheid outlooks and from there, the economy will sort itself out eventually, as long as the left don’t get in next election. And yes, I am part Maori.

Auckland University’s Professor Elizabeth Rata, has long followed Maoridom’s “aggressive march through public institutions to co-governance” and her views on the matter are clear:

“The co-governance of New Zealand’s institutions, including parliament itself, by both a tribal entity and a democratic one is impossible. There is no ‘co’ in democratic governance.”

Yet in spite of ‘co-governance’ being illegitimate, it continues to exist.

Professor Rata explains, “In the 1990s, I developed the theory of neotribal capitalism to explain a phenomenon occurring in New Zealand’s version of identity politics. The phenomenon was the rapid emergence of the neotribal corporation. These economic entities gained their initial capital in the 1980s by claiming Treaty of Waitangi Settlements on behalf of all Maori. They have since become the political and ideological vehicle for co-governance demands. This poses a serious threat to nearly two centuries of democratic nation-building by both Maori and colonists.

“Those in charge of the neotribal corporations have grandiose ambitions. Not content with righting historical wrongs, their ambitions extend to acquiring both vast amounts of capital and political power … through ‘co-governance’.

“Neotribal capitalists are rent-seekers living off the profits of others’ investment and labour. Acquiring capital as a tribal entitlement by falsely claiming to be the inheritors of history, their main ambition is to acquire political power.”

The landlords are looking to score up to $1.5 billion from the federal government, as individuals are reporting losses between thousands of dollars to almost $15 million.

The agency also noted New Zealand was implementing the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, in which tax authorities internationally would exchange more data.



Through the framework and annual exchanges with other tax authorities, local tax authorities would be informed about transactions and transfers of crypto-assets taking place overseas by New Zealand tax residents.



A spokesperson for Inland Revenue said the initiatives brought "much-needed visibility to the crypto world", shifting it from what had been "a vague grey area to international transparency with much tighter enforcement".

A WAKE-UP CALL
By Dr Muriel Newman


New Zealanders are now confronting the most serious energy and fuel pressures in a generation.

Diesel prices have surged to record levels, truck stops in several regions have already run dry, and questions are increasingly being raised about whether national fuel supplies will hold.

Fertiliser importers are warning of tightening global markets, supply chains are under strain, and the latest price spikes are already feeding directly into the cost of living and inflation.

The Middle East crisis has not only disrupted global shipping routes and fuel flows; it has revealed just how dangerously exposed New Zealand has become.

Unlike many countries, we entered this crisis having deliberately dismantled our refining capacity, constrained our gas supply, and imposed ideologically driven climate policies that deliberately increased energy costs throughout the economy.

The end result is a country acutely vulnerable to global shocks.

With the consequences of governments prioritising climate activism over energy security now abundantly clear, the question that needs to be asked is whether New Zealand would be more resilient if we had not committed to the United Nations Paris Agreement.

The evidence strongly suggests we would.

To recap: the Paris Agreement sets New Zealand’s international climate commitments; the Zero Carbon Act converts them into domestic targets through five-year emissions budgets aimed at achieving net zero by 2050; and the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) puts a price on emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in order to force the de-carbonisation of the energy sector through the phase out of fossil-fuelled thermal generation and the electrifying of transport and industrial heat.

New Zealand’s ETS is unusually broad based. While most countries only apply carbon pricing to large industrial emitters, our scheme was designed to cover the entire economy - driving up electricity prices, fuel prices, freight, manufacturing costs, food, and ultimately, household budgets.

By pricing CO₂ emissions from the gas and coal‑fired power stations needed to keep New Zealand’s lights on during dry years and periods with little sun or wind, the ETS guarantees that wholesale electricity prices will continue to rise - pushing up costs for households and businesses. And as more capital‑intensive wind and solar generation is added to the grid, the need for backup generation increases, driving electricity prices even higher.

With the Zero Carbon Act imposing legally binding emissions budgets that restrict economic activity regardless of market conditions or technological readiness, these two policies have created a cost structure that amplifies global shocks rather than cushioning them. Together they have driven the “de-industrialisation” of New Zealand – as energy‑intensive industries relocate offshore, pulp and paper mills close, and food processors scale back.

For exporters, the challenges are especially severe as they compete against producers in countries where carbon prices are lower, or non-existent, eroding competitiveness and squeezing margins.

The closure of the Marsden Point oil refinery in 2022 was the most consequential loss of all, leaving New Zealand totally dependent on imported refined fuels.

Marsden Point illustrates how the Ardern Government prioritised climate ideology and UN directives over energy security and the national interest.

Originally opened in 1962, the site near Whangarei was chosen for its deep‑water port, proximity to major North Island markets, and low earthquake risk. The “Think Big” expansion, completed in 1986, enabled the refinery to produce around 70 percent of New Zealand’s refined fuel needs from domestic and imported crude – including petrol, diesel, aviation fuel, kerosene, fuel oils, and bitumen.

When the Clark Labour Government ratified the UN’s Kyoto Protocol in 2003 and committed to reducing greenhouses gases, it entered into a 20-year Negotiated Greenhouse Agreement with the refinery. In exchange for an exemption from carbon charges, the refinery committed to an emissions-reduction pathway that included removing lead from petrol, supplying lower sulphur diesel, and reducing benzene in petrol.

As the Agreement’s expiry date approached and the refinery began negotiating its transition into the ETS, it became clear that significant carbon costs would be imposed.
With the Green Party Climate Minister James Shaw pushing to tighten industrial allocation rules, the Refining NZ Board warned that rising carbon charges would increase operating costs and threaten the refinery’s viability.

By 2020, the refinery was already under intense financial strain from collapsing global refining margins and rising domestic energy costs. Confidence in New Zealand’s long‑term energy security had been eroded by Jacinda Ardern’s “Captain’s Call” ban on offshore oil and gas exploration, and with the Zero Carbon Act signalling the wind‑down of fossil‑fuel infrastructure, Refining NZ advised the government that its climate policy settings had made ongoing refinery operations unsustainable.

When Cabinet rejected intervention on fuel‑security grounds, the refinery ceased operation, and in April 2022 converted into an import‑only terminal.

While the closure was described as a commercial decision, the destructive impact of the UN’s climate agenda is unmistakable: by facing rising carbon costs, tightening ETS settings, declining gas supplies, and a decarbonisation pathway that offered fossil‑fuel infrastructure no future, the policy environment made long‑term refining untenable.

The economic fallout from this radical climate ideology was not confined to Marsden Point.

With the Zero Carbon Act’s binding emissions budgets constraining investment and increasing compliance costs – and the ETS raising the price of fuel, freight, and production across the entire economy – the cumulative effect has undermined energy security in New Zealand and driven de‑industrialisation as energy‑intensive industries close or relocate offshore.

What’s even worse is that the architecture that underpins this destructive climate ideology, is fundamentally flawed.

Let me explain.

New research shows that plant absorption of CO₂ from the atmosphere has been significantly underestimated in the climate models that underpin international policy.

A 2024 study by Cornell University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory published in Nature, found that plants absorb 31 percent more CO₂ through photosynthesis than previously estimated – as this week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator, distinguished New Zealand Climate Researcher Dr Richard Reaney, explains:

“Every so often, science gets a reminder that the natural world doesn’t bend to our models. The recent findings from Oak Ridge National Laboratory are one of those reminders. For years, we were told that plants absorb a certain, tidy amount of CO₂. Now we learn that figure was off by a wide margin – about 30%. That’s not a rounding error. That’s a sign we’ve been working with an incomplete picture.

“For decades, global CO₂ absorption was estimated using indirect signals: satellite greenness, atmospheric readings, and scattered ground measurements. Useful tools, but hardly precise. The new research used carbonyl sulphide – a gas plants absorb during photosynthesis and never release. It’s a cleaner, more honest indicator of what’s actually happening. And once scientists measured it properly, the truth was obvious: Earth’s vegetation is pulling far more CO₂ out of the air than we gave it credit for.”

Dr Reaney describes his recent research trip into the heart of the Borneo rainforest to measure CO₂ levels throughout the day: “The rainforest was literally ‘hovering’ CO₂ out of the atmosphere at an increased photosynthetic rate… A stronger natural carbon sink means the planet is more resilient than we thought. But it also means our climate models – the ones used to guide policy, investment, and public messaging – were built on shaky foundations.”

And that’s the point: the climate policies embedded in our legislative and regulatory framework – that are causing untold damage to our economy and way of life – are based on inaccurate assumptions. There’s no other conclusion that can be reached.

But it gets worse. Not only are CO₂ emissions overstated, so too are agricultural emissions.

New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory reports gross national emissions of 76.4 million tonnes of CO₂-equivalent, with agriculture accounting for 53 percent. Under the standard GWP100 metric used in Paris Agreement accounting – which measures how much heat a greenhouse gas traps over 100 years compared with CO₂ - methane produced by livestock digestion is treated as trapping around 28 times more heat.

However, because biogenic methane is short-lived, only remaining in the atmosphere for about 12 years, GWP100 significantly overstates its long-term warming impact. A more accurate metric GWP* has therefore been developed, which reduces the warming impact of stable livestock methane by roughly 75 percent – equivalent to a multiplier of four, instead of 28!

Applying both corrections – a 31 percent reduction in reported CO₂ and a 75 percent reduction in biogenic methane – New Zealand’s gross emissions would fall to around 40 million tonnes, and the need to de-industrialise our economy would disappear.

Instead of accounting for a miniscule 0.15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, New Zealand’s share would fall to an infinitesimal 0.07 percent.

On a per capita basis, New Zealand would shift from appearing to be a relatively high emitter of greenhouse gases to one of the world’s cleanest and greenest advanced economies. This corrected view would properly recognise our highly efficient pastoral farmers, who produce some of the lowest emissions per kilogram of milk and meat anywhere on the planet. It would highlight agriculture as a genuine national strength – demonstrating that we feed the world with unmatched efficiency - while maintaining one of the cleanest electricity systems amongst developed nations.

But here’s the catch. While New Zealand and others might lobby the UN to update Paris Agreement metrics and correct the data, there’s no guarantee they’ll agree. That means inflated targets will continue to dominate climate policy – undermining energy security and driving up costs across the economy – unless the Coalition acts decisively in the national interest.

To their credit, they’ve already been moving in this direction: In 2024, they reversed Labour’s plan to bring agriculture into the ETS, and in 2025, they tookon-farm emissions pricing “off the table” in recognition that future reductions will come from technology and productivity gains.

However, the on-going pressure on our economy from the ETS remains. By driving up wholesale power prices, increasing fuel and fertiliser costs, and contributing to the closure of energy-intensive industries – including Marsden Point – the ETS is undermining energy security at a time when we most need affordable, reliable energy to support industry and households. That’s why it must go.

China offers a practical model for how a major Paris Agreement party can pursue its national interests while remaining fully signed up. Beijing continues to build large-scale coal-fired power stations on the explicit grounds of energy security, grid stability to support intermittent renewables, and the need to sustain rapid economic and industrial growth. Its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) focus on carbon intensity and technology-led progress rather than absolute emission volumes.

If concerns that New Zealand exiting the Paris Agreement would compromise trade are genuine, we could follow China’s pragmatic path: remain a party to the Agreement, state our corrected figures, scrap the ETS, and submit a revised NDC that prioritises energy security, food security, and economic growth while pursuing lower emissions through technology and efficiency.

Such a move would demonstrate the Coalition is prioritising the national interest – just as our largest trading partner already does.

Finally, if Jacinda Ardern had put the national interest ahead of climate ideology and allowed the refinery’s exemption from carbon charges to continue, it’s possible it would still be operating today. If that were the case, New Zealand would have the added security of at least 350 million litres of stable crude oil stored in tanks that are currently sitting empty – on top of the present holding of 300 million litres of refined fuel, with its relatively short shelf life of 6 months for petrol, 6 to 12 months for diesel, and 12 to 24 months for jet fuel.

The current global fuel crisis should be a wake‑up call. New Zealand cannot afford to repeat the mistakes that have left us exposed: dismantling critical infrastructure, constraining domestic energy supply, and subordinating national security to international climate orthodoxy. Energy security is not optional. It’s the foundation of economic strength, social stability, and national resilience. If we are to protect our industries, our households, and our sovereignty, future governments must put fuel and energy security first — unequivocally and unapologetically — in the national interest.

Current residential CGT rates of 18 percent and 24 percent could rise to match income tax rates of up to 45 percent if these proposals progress – timing of disposals may become critical.

Around 2018, New Zealand became known as a destination for tech billionaires said to be building “doom-prep” bunkers. The country, which has a population of 5 million on two islands, is seen as a safe haven due to its distance from the rest of the world.

Now it’s become a magnet for a larger group of Americans, many of them venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and investment advisers drawn to the country’s vibrant startup community. Adding fuel to the fire is a recent shift in New Zealand’s visa policies, which makes it easier for wealthy foreigners to buy homes in the country.

Kelly McGonigle Squier, 41, co-founder of the nonprofit Ladies Who Launch, and her husband, early-stage investor Trevor Squier, 42, are about to put an offer of roughly $2.5 million on a bungalow in Auckland’s Grey Lynn neighborhood.

They are planning to bring their parents with them when they relocate from Seattle to New Zealand. Because Kelly and Trevor have permanent New Zealand residency, their parents will be able to get visas, as long as they meet certain requirements.

The Squiers plan to buy land to put up two modular houses for their parents, who they say are all enthusiastically on board.

For New Zealand, attracting investment and expertise for its startups is seen as key to increasing growth and exports. Its economy has sputtered in recent years, with tens of thousands of Kiwis leaving the country.

“We are a little bit short of capital, which is why we love our American friends,” New Zealand’s outgoing Attorney-General Judith Collins said at a January dinner that included about 30 American tech-industry players.

U.S. investors bring in expertise and connections, New Zealand Minister of Immigration Erica Stanford said in an interview. “The caliber of the Americans applying has been absolutely outstanding.”

???? Read more: https://on.wsj.com/3OCZcTO

Latest data from realestate.co.nz shows that more than $40 million was trimmed from property asking prices across New Zealand in the last quarter of 2025.
In a shift that may signal improving market conditions, the total amount that dropped out of the market was $14 million less than the $55 million slashed in Q4 of 2024.
Key findings from the data show:

• 1,374 listings recorded a price drop in Q4 2025, the lowest number in two years
• Nationally, vendors who reduced their asking prices in Q4 2025 took an average of $30,065 off each listing.
• $41,309,345 million was the total value of price reductions, the lowest total price drop in a quarter since we started tracking this data two years ago
• Stable OCR could be first sign of a property market recovery in 2026

Vanessa Williams, spokesperson for realestate.co.nz, says the latest figures could be an early indicator that the market is beginning to swing in a different direction.
"The significant amounts we saw slashed from the market in the earlier quarters of 2025 certainly hasn't continued, which is a sign confidence is slowly returning to the market," says Williams. "The stability of the OCR in this week's announcement should also be an encouraging sign that the market may not be too far away from hitting its stride in 2026."

Peers have challenged the government over the Renters’ Rights Act after data showed 110,000 landlords are expected to leave the private rented sector this year.

Wellington has kicked off the year with a record number of properties listed for rent.
Latest data from realestate.co.nz shows in January, Wellington reached a record high of 965 properties listed for rent, a whopping 54.2% more rental listings than the same time last year.
Meanwhile, Otago's new rental listings were down 32.9% year-on-year, with just 139 properties listed for rent this January, compared to 207 in January 2025.
Vanessa Williams, spokesperson for realestate.co.nz says it’s very much a tale of two cities.
"For students heading back to campus, where you study has a big impact on your rental experience. The data shows just how important timing and location are."
Key findings from the January 2026 New Zealand Rental Report include:

• The national average rent falls to $634/week, down 2.0% year-on-year
• In Wellington, the average weekly rent has fallen 8.9% year-on-year to $659/week
• In Auckland the average rent is $686/week, down just 1.8% on January 2025.
• National rental stock increased 9.8% in January 2026, with 7,830 rental properties available compared to 7,129 properties in January 2025.
• Hawke's Bay recorded the greatest year-on-year increase in stock levels, up 115.8% compared to January 2025 to 123 properties.

Release and data attached.
Vanessa Williams is available for interviews. Please let me know if you'd like to arrange one.
Nga mihi
Ann

Lotto reform: could a new prize-linked bond be a safer bet?

Researchers look back in time to see how people react when lotteries are restricted and an alternative is offered.

Imagine if the money from every Lotto ticket you bought had instead gone into a ‘lottery bond’. You’d still have a chance to win life-changing cash prizes, but your money would also be saved, earning interest and being paid back over time. If you don’t win, you don’t lose it all either.

In Belgium, where University of Auckland finance lecturer Dr Gertjan Verdickt lived most of his life, Lotto draws, like in New Zealand, are broadcast on national television each week, and this sparked his interest in how people respond when governments try to curb gambling.

The Business School researcher and co-author, Amaury De Vicq (University of Groningen), studied what happened after, in 1905, the Dutch government banned the sale and purchase of traditional lotteries but allowed an alternative: ‘lottery bonds’.

“We wanted to look back in time to investigate what happens when a government tries to shift gambling from something addictive and loss-making (lotteries) to something safer such as lottery bonds. How do different socio-economic groups react?”

These ‘lottery bonds’ were a legal fixed-income product that let people invest in a bond while also going into a prize draw. Buyers were guaranteed their money back, plus interest, with the added chance of winning. Similar prize-linked products operate in several countries today, with different designs.

Verdickt says this kind of government-run bond scheme could be attractive in New Zealand.

“Lotto is often defended because it funds community projects, which is fantastic, but it can disproportionately draw spending from people on lower incomes. Maybe the government could move towards supporting people to put money into something where they get a safe return, and the chance for a big win.

“A premium government-led bond-style product, different to the solely prize-based Bonus Bonds which wound up in New Zealand in 2020, could fund public projects, while allowing New Zealanders to grow their money rather than lose money week after week.”

So how did everyday Dutch people react when regular Lotto was banned?

The researchers drew on Dutch inheritance tax archives to create detailed portfolio holdings for 3,618 people, allowing them to track how different groups adjusted their investments after the policy change.

The researchers found that overall, less wealthy people put more money into lottery bonds, while wealthy individuals decreased their holdings.

“Although we didn't observe people’s prior lottery purchases, the magnitude of the move towards lottery bonds indicates that these bonds could be considered a substitute for gambling.”

Age and location mattered too. The researchers found younger people were less likely to take up lottery bonds, while older individuals showed a stronger move into them after the policy change.

The lack of interest in lottery bonds among younger individuals could be seen as a success in the Dutch government’s attempt to curb gambling, says Verdickt.

Lotteries and other forms of gambling remained legal in neighbouring Belgium and Germany, and the researchers say poorer people living farther from those borders were more likely to invest in lottery bonds than those closer by, who may have been tempted across the border.

Channelling the urge to gamble

The regulation of gambling has always been a challenge for governments, say the researchers, pitting concerns for financial stability and addictions against consumer demand.

“Our study shows the Dutch government’s lottery bonds were helpful; they channelled people’s urge to gamble into an instrument that also encouraged saving.”

He says governments like New Zealand’s might consider promoting a form of ‘lottery bond’ as a safer alternative to playing Lotto.

“Of course, these days people have so many options online and in-person when it comes to gambling. You can’t ban the urge to gamble, but you can guide people towards safer channels.

“The lottery bond offered by the Dutch government, for example, wasn’t a perfect investment, but it did provide a better option for many people.”
Read the working paper: Financial Regulation and Household Portfolio Reallocation: The Impact of the 1905 Dutch Lottery Ban

Verdickt is available to comment: gertjan.verdickt@auckland.ac.nz

Te Toi Mahana builds a foundation for growth and community impact with Nintex

Wellington, New Zealand – January 28, 2025 –Nintex, the global leader in agentic business orchestration, today announced that Te Toi Mahana, Wellington’s largest residential landlord and leading provider of affordable homes, has implemented Nintex to strengthen service consistency, compliance, and operational resilience as the organisation enters its next phase of growth.

Te Toi Mahana was established in 2023 as a charitable community housing provider that took over Wellington City Council’s public housing portfolio and works to grow affordable housing supply across the city.

Te Toi Mahana focuses on providing safe, warm, and dry homes for nearly 3,000 people and aims to add 500 affordable homes over the next ten years. With growth and complex service needs, the organisation needed a way to document, standardise, and scale operational processes, without compromising the quality of service, safety, or compliance to its tenants during its transition.

“Te Toi Mahana is only two years old, so establishing a new organisation while continuing to deliver essential housing services was a huge challenge,” said Sebastian Abril, Service Development Manager, Te Toi Mahana. “We had to build a strong foundation and deliver consistency quickly, to make sure tenants, staff, and partners could rely on us from day one. Our focus was on giving people the tools, clarity, and confidence to deliver great service, even in a fast-changing environment.”

Te Toi Mahana adopted Nintex Process Manager to map and manage end-to-end processes across maintenance, tenancy management, anti-social behaviour response, health and safety, recruitment, and onboarding.

By defining clear ownership, review cycles, and compliance checkpoints, the organisation is making information easier to find and decisions faster to make, helping frontline teams spend more time supporting tenants and less time chasing answers.

“The biggest impact of adopting Nintex Process Manager as a young organisation is how it has changed the way we work with our frontline teams as we standardise our practice,” Abril said. “By starting to use Nintex University, both our specialists and our people on the ground are not only building professional capability in process mapping, but they are also informing how decisions are made. Their questions, real-world challenges, and insights directly shape the standards we create, which has made the work more engaging and empowering.”

“With clearer processes, we are already seeing opportunities to reduce duplication, cut unnecessary email traffic, and improve how we collaborate. There is a shared sense of ownership unique in this project. Everyone understands their role in the bigger picture and continues to define the level of quality, assurance, and service we strive for. Ultimately, that means safer, faster outcomes for our tenants.”

The benefits have extended beyond day-to-day operations. Having accessible, well-documented processes has made onboarding new staff easier and strengthened internal communication, supporting a culture of accountability and collaboration.

Te Toi Mahana has since been recognised among New Zealand’s Best Places to Work for two consecutive years, reflecting its people-first approach. Just one year after its establishment, tenant engagement remained strong with a 76% approval rating in its first survey, up from 75% in the previous assessment, despite the organisation’s rapid transition from local government service to an independent, not-for-profit housing provider.

While Te Toi Mahana’s current focus is on process management, the organisation is laying the foundation for future automation and AI use cases. The team is already exploring how Nintex AI Document Processing can assist with drafting process documentation, supporting compliance reviews, and validating legal requirements.

“We’re a young organisation, but we’ve already learned that structure gives you space to grow,” Abril said. “With clear processes and reliable information, we can evolve faster, stay compliant, and focus on what matters most, supporting people to live safely and with dignity.”

“Social housing providers like Te Toi Mahana carry an enormous responsibility, every process directly impacts people’s lives,” said Keith Payne, Regional Vice President, APAC at Nintex. “By building a culture of consistency and clarity, they’re showing how process excellence can scale purpose-driven organisations without losing their human touch.”

To learn more about how Nintex is helping customers unlock possibilities through agentic business orchestration, please clickhere.

About Nintex
Nintex, the possibility engine™, helps organisations unlock the power of agentic business orchestration by combining process intelligence, workflow orchestration, low-code development, and agentic AI to build solutions designed for their unique business challenges. Today, more than 7,000 public and private sector organisations across more than 100 countries rely on Nintex and its global partner network to supercharge business process orchestration, create purpose-built solutions, and unlock the full potential of their people. Learn more about how Nintex and its global partner network are propelling people, work, and business forward at nintex.com.

About Te Toi Mahana
Te Toi Mahana is the largest residential landlord and leading provider of affordable housing in Wellington. Te Toi Mahana provides safe, warm and affordable homes to almost 3,000 tenants and manages approximately 1,900 properties throughout the capital.
Te Toi Mahana is a registered Community Housing Provider (CHP) and Charity. A CHP is a regulated entity that provides social, affordable and/or community housing and is registered with Community Housing Regulatory Authority (CHRA).
Te Toi Mahana commenced operations in August 2023 and took over the management of Wellington City Council’s social housing services. More information can be found atwww.tetoimahana.org.nz


Jacob Penfold | Senior Consultant
Watterson PR | DIGITAL | SOCIAL

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