Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

International student Huda Jamali says studying in Palmerston North is a bit cheaper than in other parts of the country – but she was still surprised by how pricey it could be.

She says a non-catered spot in the university halls is about $230 a week. “I don’t recommend living in halls. I don’t think it’s worth the price for the halls I’ve seen here in Palmerston North.”

She is paying $270 for a room in a house while she finishes her animal science studies. “I think it’s worth it because it’s bigger and more comfortable.”

She said she had been particularly surprised by the cost of food. “Our groceries are very expensive as well. Fresh produce is crazy. It’s very expensive and it’s so hard to eat healthy just because of the expensive fresh produce.”

Darcy Nelson found studying in Dunedin very expensive, too. She said rent was “ridiculously expensive”, “especially considering what you’re getting for it. Rent in my second year was $205 and then rent in my third year was $220. It’s really crazy for what you’re paying for – it’s a room in a very, very cold mouldy house.”

She said she looked for work for a long time but was not able to get one. “It’s really difficult to get a job down there.”

She ended up borrowing more on her student loan to pay for living costs. “My parents were helping with rent in my second year because $300 [in student loan support] for rent, food, power… you can’t do that. One of my best friends who was in my house both years didn’t have any help from her parents, she got the full loan out and she was skimping by truly eating pasta just all the time. She couldn’t afford anything, it was crazy.

Nelson said she had a falling out with flatmates over the power bill because it was so hard to save money. “You just can’t because the house isn’t properly insulated, you’ve got broken windows, you’ve got a dryer going… I think the biggest power bill between seven girls got to $900.”

Rent went up every year, she said.

“Especially on Castle St in Dunedin. The rent goes up by $15 a year, or $20. I know the girls who moved into our house this year are paying $250 or $260 a week each compared to our $220.”

She has moved back to Auckland to be able to live with her parents and work while she studies.

“I did two years there and two years is enough. I’ve got a couple of papers to complete and I’ll do it from Auckland, save my cash, save my money.”

Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub said the cost of being a student had increased significantly.

“In 2005, the average student could just about make it work. A weekly student allowance of $160 against essential costs of $140 left a slim $20 buffer. Not comfortable, but survivable. Rent was $86, food $42, electricity $11. You could manage, especially if you had a part time job too.

“Fast forward to 2025 and that buffer has flipped into a deficit. Student support has risen 86 percent, but the cost of essentials has increased more – by 220 percent. Rent is now $193. Food $96. The $20 surplus is now an $8 weekly shortfall, before you’ve bought a textbook, caught a bus or bought a beer. You need over $300 a week just to live.”

Ministry of Social Development data shows that in the first quarter of last year, just under 35,000 students received some form of financial assistance under the student allowance scheme.

That was up 5.2 percent on the year before. On average, they received $1882 in payments in the quarter, which was down 3 percent.

The maximum after tax for a student under 24 living with parents was $277.72 a week. For those away from home it was $323.33.

How much people can get from the allowance depends on their own income and that of their partner, if they are over 24, and their parents’ income if they are under 24.

Someone under 24 whose parents’ joint earnings are more than $69,935.32 a year before tax will have the amount they can receive in the allowance reduced.

There is no student allowance available for them if their parents own over $127,701.81 and they live at home, or $137,187.86 if they do not.

Students who do not qualify for an allowance can borrow more money for living costs on top of their student loans but this has to be paid back.

They can borrow up to $323.43 a week, an amount that is adjusted with inflation each year.

Eaqub said Dunedin and Palmerston North rents were 60 percent of AUckland pries in 2015 but that had risen to now more than 80 percent.

University tuition fees were up 113 percent and polytech fees up 60 percent.

“To pay for tuition and living costs – I hope not for other things – the median student loan balance has increased from $10,000 in 2005 to $24,000 in 2023.”

He said it was also less clear that students were getting a payoff for their studies.

“Post GFC, between 2009-2014, graduate incomes held up even as more people entered tertiary education. Pre-Covid, income premiums started flattening, and post-pandemic, returns have become dispersed and uncertain, with 25-34 year olds facing declining returns and stiffer competition than the cohorts before them.

“A qualification still helps. But the field you study and the sector you enter now matter far more than whether you have a piece of paper at all.”

Earlier, RNZ reported data from Education Counts showed higher-level qualifications had traditionally brought earning benefits over a person’s working life.

It said wages would generally increase as people gained work experience, but higher levels of education seemed to mean that people’s income grew at a faster rate. Getting a degree gave more of a wage benefit to European workers than it did for other groups.

“For those with a Level 4-6 tertiary qualification, they’ve been around 10 percent more. Adults with no qualifications, on average, have received around 20 percent less in weekly income, and 12 percent less in hourly earnings, when compared to those with school qualifications only.”

For employed adults, the hourly earnings of those with a degree have been around 35 percent more than for those with school qualifications only.

But Eaqub said people were being asked to take on significant debt and live in weekly deficit with the increasing uncertain hope that their income would pay off on the other side.

“Some will make it work. Many will be squeezed in ways that shape their financial lives for decades. Delaying homeownership, limiting savings, starting careers already behind, or getting ahead because of parental support.”

Indexing student support to living costs would help, he said, as would redirecting KiwiSaver subsidies to young people at birth to help them build up an account to help with education costs.

The housing problem also needed to be addressed he said, and the student loan scheme reimagined.

“Income-contingent repayment already exists, which is good. But with balances now averaging $24,000 and incomes more volatile, could there be a case for repayment smoothing, such as repayment holidays, when income drops, or maybe bonded or time-limited debt forgiveness for fields with demonstrable public benefit – teaching, nursing, social work, – where forgiveness is earned only after verified service. “

He said young people now were being asked to take on debt, work a lot or rely on their parents. “We want our young people to have access to affordable and high quality education. They are the future of our country.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Got questions? RNZ has launched a podcast, ‘No Stupid Questions’, with Susan Edmunds.

We’d love to hear more of your questions about money and the economy. You can send through written questions, like these ones, but even better, you can drop us a voice memo to our email questions@rnz.co.nz.

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My dad passed away in 2015. While he was sick, he and his partner both wrote wills. In his will he said if he died the house he built would be sold after my stepmother died and the money divided up between me, my sister and my three stepsisters. They wrote matching wills. After he passed, she stayed in the house at least a year then sold it and bought another house. She changed her will so only her children would get the money from the house sale. Is there anything I can do?

Michelle Pope, principal trustee from Public Trust, said there are some general points that could help.

She says you should start by getting a copy of your father’s will and understanding how the home was owned when he died.

“That information is central to understanding what rights and interests each party may have had, and whether any specific conditions were attached to the house or other assets.

“Many couples make matching or ‘mirror’ wills, and there’s a common assumption that this means the surviving partner can’t later change their will. Unless the wills were legally mutual – meaning there was a clear, binding agreement not to change certain provisions after the first death – the surviving partner is generally free to update their own will. Mirror and mutual wills are often confused, but they are not the same.

“How the house was owned is a key issue in situations like this, because it determines whether the property became part of the estate or passed automatically to the surviving owner.”

If your dad and stepmother owned the house jointly, it would have passed automatically to her when he died and not been part of his estate.

“If this is the case, the house belongs to the surviving joint owner and they are free to decide what to do with it.

“If the house was owned solely by your dad or as ‘tenants in common’ with your stepmother, your dad’s ownership of the house may have remained part of the estate and protected for the beneficiaries named in the will. In some cases, wills give the surviving partner a life interest, allowing them to live in or use the property during their lifetime (or receive the income from it), with the value passing to beneficiaries later.

“Whether you have any interest in your stepmother’s new home depends on what, if any, interest you have in your dad’s estate. It is possible that if your stepmother had a life interest that gave her the right to sell the initial property and buy another, your dad’s interest may have transferred to that replacement property. “

When it comes to his other belongings, Pope said that unless a will set out household and personal effects to someone in particular, families often decided among themselves how things were divided.

“Where there is a spouse or partner, it is not unusual that they would keep most of these items because they are considered assets of the relationship. This can be hard for children, particularly when items of sentimental value are sold or given away, as the law doesn’t always reflect their emotional significance.

“At Public Trust, we specifically ask people when they’re making a will whether there are particular belongings they want to go to specific people. This helps create clarity and reduce misunderstandings for families later on.”

She said if you were still not sure, you could speak to the executor of your father’s estate, who would have been responsible for administering the will. You could then seek legal advice if you were not happy with the information you were given.

I am a personal investor and an active one. I do it because I love it. I have a problem with the managed fund industry in that they are very careless with the truth. When they claim to have achieved a return of say 8 percent, if they have been investing in NZ shares they should say that the client has contributed 4 percent or 6 percent from the dividends they have foregone.

New Zealand has two main types of funds – accumulating and distributing.

KiwiSaver funds are accumulating funds. They reinvest the dividends that they get from investing back into the fund rather than paying them out to investors.

When accumulating funds talk about the returns they are giving investors, they include the dividends that are reinvested.

If a fund pays out, when it reports returns, it includes the dividend in that return.

Rupert Carlyon, founder of Koura KiwiSaver, point sout that the NZX50 is an index that includes dividends in return calculations, but the S&P500 is not. It only includes price movements.

He said investors comparing the performance of their share portfolio versus the performance of a managed funds should think about the dividends, too.

“When looking at returns we always want to look at total returns after fees.

“If anything, I would argue fund managers are doing it correctly and individual investors should probably be talking about a slightly higher return.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Households spending more than a third more on utility bills than they did a year ago do not have much money left for fun stuff, Kiwibank economists say.

They have released new spending data, which shows a tough end to the year for shops, particularly fashion retail.

“We typically see spending ramp up into the summer holidays,” economist Sabrina Delgado said.

“But our Kiwibank electronic card data showed this effect was less pronounced this time around. The silly season kicked off on a good note with the number of transactions in December up 0.4 percent on last year’s levels. But it seems consumer spending got hit with a bad new year’s hangover in January. The number of transactions in January dropped 2.7 percent below the overall 2025 monthly average. And compared to last January, transaction volumes were down 2.3 percent.”

The total amount spent was up 8.6 percent in December and 3.7 percent in January, which indicated people were shopping less but spending more.

The January data in particular showed that was because of higher prices, she said.

“Inflation has picked up over the past year, and many households are still feeling the squeeze after several years of tight budgets, elevated consumer prices, and expensive credit. So it’s no surprise we’re still seeing fewer shopping trips with more spent per trip.”

She said although interest rates were “significantly lower” than the year before, household budgets were still under pressure because the cost of essentials was rising.

They were spending 36 percent more on utilities across December and January than a year earlier.

“That’s taking a big chunk out of disposable incomes. It means that we have less to spend in other areas because utilities are essentials. We have to pay them.”

She said it was hitting clothing shops particularly hard, and spending on apparel seemed to be in persistent decline.

The data indicated that more of the same was happening in February, she said.

“Looking at the early data we have for February, which runs to just after Waitangi weekend, transaction volumes are currently tracking about 4.3 percent lower than this time last year. That suggests that the same kind of soft consumption we saw through January may be lingering into February. While this may be the case, we’ll flag that it may be too soon to draw firm conclusions for February. There’s still plenty of the month left, and a late-month pickup could shift the final outcome significantly.”

People seemed to be going out to dinner more but spending less at cafes, she said.

“We frequented our local coffee and brunch spots less than last year. And higher food prices seem to be hitting here the most. Because while the number of café visits has dropped, the dollars spent have instead risen. Compared with last summer, café spending is up almost 9 percent, meaning each visit is costing noticeably more. So for now it seems were gritting our teeth through our homemade instant coffees instead.”

Takeaway spending was also on a steady slide.

Demand for housing-related goods was strengthening. Trips to hardware stores were up 6 percent year-on-year in December and dollars spent were up just over 30 percent.

“Overall the lift in housing-related spend offers an encouraging sign for the housing market. The need for a fresh lick of paint or new furniture is often suggestive of increased housing market turnover. To us, the data signals that households are getting ready for a better year for the housing market. And we expect it will be with interest rates in their low ranges. “

Delgado said households were still worried about the labour market, which made people nervous about spending.

“Unemployment is at 5.4 percent. Even though we’ve seen the underlying details in the labour market showing some signs of strengthening, the average household only looks at that headline unemployment rate.

“If they see that that’s rising, that job insecurity weighs on that confidence to be splurging a bit more right now.”

She said it was also significant that the housing market was still soft because a lot of wealth was tied up in it.

“In our view, though, we do still see the rest of this year to be a recovery for consumption because as the broader economy is recovering, things like the labour market will improve. The housing market also is going to improve. And that should give a bit more confidence to households and their spending this year.”

She said any interest rate rises should still be left for 2027.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Westpac says it is cutting its three-, four- and five-year home loan rates.

It is the first bank to move after the latest official cash rate (OCR) announcement.

The Reserve Bank indicated it expected to raise interest rates a little faster and earlier than previously forecast – but not as quickly as markets had priced in.

Wholesale markets fell as a result.

Commentators said it could be good news for borrowers and should mean a temporary end to the increases in home loan rates seen in recent weeks.

Westpac said it would cut its three-year special to 4.99 percent, which it said was the only three-year rate below 5 percent at the main banks.

The four- and five-year rates will drop by 20 basis points to 5.19 percent and 5.29 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, ASB economists say borrowers need to work out the best strategies for their circumstances in the current environment.

“With so much going on, it is an important time to have a mortgage plan.”

They said shorter-term rates were now down the most compared to their peaks. Floating, six-month and one-year terms are all 2.9 percent from the highest point.

Senior economist Chris Tennent-Brown said the message for borrowers was that rate were likely to rise over the next few years.

“The timing of when they’ll go up is the uncertain bit and that just depends on if inflation cools quick enough for the Reserve Bank to be comfortable on the sidelines for this year or they need to act earlier or swifter than their forecasts imply.”

It has tended to be the case that a series of one-year fixes has proved cheapest overall, over time.

Tennent-Brown said whether that continued would depend on whether inflation and the economy turned out to be stronger than expedited.

“There’s still a lot of value in strategies like splitting mortgages over one, two and three years.

“It still comes back to that story of balancing up people’s needs for certainty because you can get a lot of certainty now for historically low prices.

“We don’t expect one-year mortgages will get up to the levels that the four- and five-year mortgages are unless inflation turns out to be a much bigger problem than we’re currently thinking.”

He said one- and two-year rates had historically been where banks were most competitive.

“It looks like it’ll be the place to be, but I don’t want to discount the certainty you get if inflation turns out to be more persistent than the current thinking is, for some of the longer-term rates.”

He said he expected one-year rates to get into the early 5 percent range and two-year rates to go a little higher.

“Clearly the low point in rates is at best here and likely behind us. So you just need to work out, what are your needs for flexibility and what are the big risks for you? If I had a lot of debt and I couldn’t deal with rates getting too much higher, there’s a lot of value in those longer-term rates.

“If I need flexibility, the part of the curve around the one-year space has worked incredibly well for years and based on our forecasts should be okay, but it doesn’t give you much protection if inflation and higher interest rates turn out to be on the horizon.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

• Insolvencies rise in fourth quarter, annual rate highest in 10 years
• Failures reflect companies weakened some time ago
• Signs of economic improvement too late for some companies
• Construction biggest insolvency group, broad hospitality second

The number of companies going broke has surged to its highest level in 10 years as past economic and commercial problems catch up with a growing number of firms, despite signs of economic recovery.

The latest report from BWA Insolvency for the December quarter showed a 31.5 percent rise in the number of insolvencies to 933 on the previous quarter, and 11 percent higher than the same period in 2024.

BWA Insolvency principal Bryan Williams said the number of insolvencies reflected old pressures coming to the surface.

“The insolvencies we are seeing today are rooted in earlier events. Old debt, thin margins and stalled projects are what ultimately undermine a company’s viability.”

“The improvements we are seeing now in interest rates, building activity and export returns arrive too late for those already in deep financial trouble,” Williams said.

There was a total of 3132 insolvencies last year, involving more liquidations, a slight rise in voluntary administration, but a fall in receiverships. It was the highest annual tally since 2015 following the global financial crisis.

Williams said the figures showed by the end of 2025 more firms had reached “terminal distress” where there was little or nothing left to save and they had accepted the inevitable.

The high level of insolvencies in the past year has been put down, in part, to a more aggressive approach by Inland Revenue in collecting unpaid tax and other payments.

Better economy won’t save the weak

Williams said there was still a reasonable number of companies to fail even as economic conditions improved.

“A bit of extra revenue can provide temporary relief, but it is rarely enough to overcome the weight of historic debt. The cost of those past problems is often greater than the benefit of any new earnings.”

Construction had the most insolvencies, but the rate of failure was slowing. There were now also substantial increases coming through in food and beverage, repair and maintenance, personal services, retail trade, transport and delivery, and manufacturing.

Williams said the high level of insolvencies should not affect the broader economic rebound currently underway, and there were some positives to be taken.

“Employees from these companies can be absorbed into sectors that are strengthening. Moving these workers into growing industries is a helpful result from what is otherwise a tough situation.”

He said directors of struggling companies should seek advice and not hope that improving sentiment will save them.

“It is natural to hope that better times will solve current problems but continuing to fight a battle that cannot be won without new capital is exhausting and often futile.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Auckland Business Chamber is cautiously optimistic that government promises to ban paywave and credit surcharges from card payments appear to have stalled.

In July last year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson moved to scrap the fees, declaring: “That pesky note or sticker on the payment machine will become a thing of the past.”

The ban was set to kick into effect no later than May 2026, and the move was heavily opposed by businesses.

Now, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the government was taking “a breather” on the policy.

“[It’s] still under consideration. We just want to make sure we understand all of the implications before we push the final button on it,” Luxon said.

Auckland Business Chamber chief executive Simon Bridges, who campaigned for an end to the policy, told Morning Report he was hopeful this was a win for small and medium businesses.

“We’ve been stuck between the big banks and the payments providers, the visas and mastercards and consumers, and I suppose politics. I can tell you 29 chambers all over the country reacted viscerally to this, the submissions almost to a single one opposed this strongly,” he said.

“I’ve made and I know Retail NZ has made clear to any minister who will listen our opposition to this. So, look, we don’t know for sure but we’re hopeful this is a win.”

Bridges said the problem with the bill as it stood was a very serious unintended consequences from a blanket ban.

“It’s a slogan in a sense more than it is a policy. In Australia, I understand they walked away from a very similar policy after the unintended consequences and so were there,” he said.

“I hope Scott Simpson and his colleagues will go back and either ditch this or find something more nuanced for the issues that are there.”

The move to axe surcharges followed growing public frustration at the cost and transparency of the charges; the Commerce Commission estimated New Zealanders were paying up to $150 million in surcharges each year, including $45 to $65 million in what it considered excessive charges.

Businesses pushed back, Retail New Zealand arguing every one or two and a half percent made a difference in a tough economy.

The Retail Payment System (Ban on Merchant Surcharges) Amendment Bill is now languishing on the order paper, ready for be read a second time.

“It’s going nowhere,” New Zealand First leader Winston Peters told reporters on Thursday afternoon, after Luxon’s comments.

Asked if there was any disagreement between the coalition parties, Luxon said no.

“We want to take a breather and have a think and make sure that we fully understand the implications of that on all businesses,” he said.

ACT leader David Seymour said businesses could not afford it.

“The government said it would do it. We’ve listened to the very strong feedback. I’ve listened to small business people saying we get a million bucks through our card system, a 2 percent fee we have to eat would be $20,000, our small business can’t afford that, and that’s why the conversations carry on,” Seymour said.

“We are listening as a government to small business and we’ll get to a better place.”

Seymour said the surcharge ban bill had been through Select Committee, where his colleague Parmjeet Parmar suggested businesses should be able to keep surcharges if they offered a free alternative, like EFTPOS.

“Maybe that’s where we end up, who knows.”

Asked whether the ban would be in place by May as promised, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson said he was “hopeful”.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The company behind a half-finished apartment block in Auckland’s Epsom is in the process of being removed from the Companies Register – while a neighbour is still waiting to be paid $30,000.

Work on the Epsom Central Apartments Project halted six years ago, after Auckland Council found it had not complied with building consent.

The original partnership, Epsom Central Apartments LP, was put into receivership in 2022, and purchased by Xiao Liu – the director at the time of a company named Reeheng Limited – in September 2023.

In September 2024, RNZ spoke to community members and business owners who described the building as a “blight on the Epsom landscape“, which at one point attracted rats and squatters.

Forest Tan owns Just Laptops next door and was awarded $30,000 by the Disputes Tribunal after ageing concrete collapsed and blocked his driveway. But he’s worried he may never see this money if the company is removed.

According to the Companies Register, Reeheng Ltd was overdue in filing an annual return and the Registrar of Companies had initiated action to remove it.

Anyone who wanted to reject the removal was given a deadline of February 18 to do so – which had now passed.

Tan said he worried once the company was removed from the register, the money owing to him would become unenforceable.

“I haven’t received compensation from Reeheng Ltd despite the tribunal order. It’s deeply concerning to me to see this.”

Tan said he had been in touch with debt collection agency Baycorp, who indicated to him if the company was removed from the register there wouldn’t be much that could be done.

In the last few months Tan demolished his business which sat directly beside the apartment block and had plans to rebuild.

If Reeheng Ltd ceased to exist he worried what the future of the building would be and how much longer it would stay in its current state.

According to the Treasury website, a property would go to the Crown if a company was removed from the register.

If someone wanted to deal with the property the company could be restored or an application could be made to the High Court for an order giving the property to an applicant.

MBIE’s acting national manager of business registries Vanessa Cook said if a company was removed from the register it effectively ceased to legally exist.

It did not however, extinguish any debts or obligations owed by the company.

She said a creditor could apply to have the company restored on the register and if it had been, enforcement could continue. This was the main pathway for any money owed.

Not filing annual returns was the most common ground for removal, she said.

“The registrar cannot comment on whether companies purposefully seek to remove themselves from the register to avoid obligations. However, failing to meet company obligations is an offence, and removal is not a mechanism to avoid paying debts.”

In Tan’s case, Cook said if a tribunal order had not been complied with the next steps for enforcement sat with the Ministry of Justice.

Tan had submitted an objection to the removal of the company from the register.

Reeheng Ltd were approached by RNZ for comment. The company’s lawyers said they had not received instructions from the company for several months.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

You might be going to get a bigger contribution to your KiwiSaver this year – but will it be at the expense of your pay rise?

The first step in the increase in KiwiSaver contribution rates takes effect on April 1, for people who do not opt out.

The default rate rises to 3.5 percent from both employer and employee – so many employers will be contributing an amount equal to an additional 0.5 percent of their wage bill from that date.

This only applies for employers who have structured KiwiSaver contributions in the traditional way, where an employee contribution is matched by an employer contribution on top of their pay. People who are paid by total remuneration will have to cover the full increase themselves.

When the change was announced, Treasury said it expected 80 percent of the employer cost to be met by lower than expected pay rises.

Kelly Eckhold, chief economist at Westpac, said it was likely that all else being equal, pay rises this year would be lower.

“In the end, employers will pay a total level of remuneration in line with prevailing supply and demand trends in the market. Changing the allocation of what employees do with that remuneration is not likely to change that assessment. Having said this it will be impossible to know the counterfactual as we can only observe what employees are paid as opposed to what they might have been paid.”

Catherine Beard, director for advocacy at Business NZ, said businesses had to consider the total cost of employing someone.

“ACC charges, potentially fringe benefit tax, you’re going to have training costs, you might have uniforms… as someone who is hiring you think about what is the total cost to me and my business. So over time, any cost of employment does end up being factored into how much it costs to hire someone… superannuation KiwiSaver will be part of it.”

Apparel sector retailers example of hard times

Carolyn Young, chief executive of Retail NZ, said it was still a tough environment for retailers.

“Consider a retailer in maybe the apparel sector. They’ve been heavily hit over the last 12 months.

“Last year apparel monthly sales were down 5 percent in January, 9.1 percent in February, down 8.5 percent in March, down 7.8 percent in April, down 4.4 percent in May, down 1 percent in June… the whole year was really tough.

“They’re really running by the skin of their teeth – there’s no fat in the business… we do know that increasing KiwiSaver … is a place where as a country we need to head.

“The real difficulty is, it’s so challenging right now for retail to navigate increasing costs.”

She said until the economy clearly improved, the contribution increase was likely to mean smaller pay rises.

“It’s definitely a tricky time and definitely a space where employers will have to navigate their budgets really carefully around how they can recognise and reward staff alongside other increases that have been put in place.”

Craig Renney, who is Council of Trade Unions chief economist and policy director and also a Labour candidate in the upcoming election, said it was likely to mean that more low-income people opted out of KiwiSaver. “If you’re struggling with the cost of living, 1 percent on your salary is quite a lot.”

He said a better solution would be an Australia-style system where it was up to the employer to cover the cost of superannuation savings and employees who did not take it up missed out, rather than receiving it in their pay packets.

Meanwhile, a survey by ANZ showed a third of KiwiSaver members intended to stick with the new 3.5 percent default rate when it took effect. Another 21 percent would contirbute more if their employer matched it.

Only 10 percent intended to request a temporary reduction.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Hicks Bay locals are worried how their businesses will survive after being cut off for weeks of the peak tourism season and still facing a major clean up.

On Thursday, three weeks since heavy rainfall and flooding brought down multiple slips, closing the road between Pōtaka and Te Araroa, the section of State Highway 35 from Pōtaka through to Hicks Bay and around to Te Araroa reopened.

The road which will open daily between 7am and 7pm is still in a fragile state with reduced speed limits and traffic management in place.

Maree Brownlie, who owned the Twilight Coffee Garden, said the biggest immediate positives of having the road reopen was reconnecting friends and family between Te Araroa and Hicks Bay.

She said it also meant locals now had access back to local shops and schools.

She was not so convinced the road reopening would have business booming with some still in clean up mode following the floods.

“It’s not going to make a great deal of difference to small business there, particularly over the summer.”

She said the road was currently not really fit for town cars to drive on either.

With peak season nearly over, Brownlie said most tourism was unlikely to return until next summer.

“This will be another year that’ll be difficult for businesses around the 35.”

“[For] small businesses, like myself, it’s going to be, can you hang in there till next summer?”

Brownlie said since Covid there had been many catastrophes in a row for the community.

“It’s been really hard for everyone on the 35 to keep their head above water, basically, literally.”

One of those businesses in clean up mode was 35 Eat Street which was based in Te Araroa Holiday Park.

Owner Nina McClutchie said her caravan had suffered water damage and silt had surrounded the premises.

She expected it would not be open for another four to eight weeks.

“We’re facing a really huge clean-up here.

“Tourists are not going to come here, we feel, for quite a while until they see, a substantial clean-up that’s happened.

McClutchie said the impact on her business was “massive”.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Christchurch woman whose landlord tried to end her tenancy because of the state of her property has been allowed to continue to live in it – and discovered the law is on her side for her cat, thanks to new rules.

The Tenancy Tribunal gave her notice that she would need to improve the state of the house if she was to remain, but she was allowed a pet.

“Regardless of whether and on what terms that consent [for a cat] was given, the new section 18AA RTA now provides that a tenant may have a pet unless the landlord does not consent on reasonable grounds,” the adjudicator said.

“The landlord has consented to the tenant keeping one adult cat at the premises provided the tenant pays a pet bond of two weeks’ rent or $1300.

“The tenant has agreed to remove the kittens from the property and to clean the carpet to remove the smell of cat urine.”

It is one of 2379 pet bonds lodged so far with Tenancy Bond Services, since the rule changed to allow them on 1 December.

Landlords are now required to allow pets, unless there are reasonable grounds to refuse.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) said landlords could charge a pet bond of up to two weeks’ rent in addition to the existing bond with clear rules for the tenants’ pet damage liability. Only one pet bond could be charged regardless of the number of pets.

“Tenants do not need to ask their landlord again for pet consent for existing pets that were lawfully kept as part of a tenancy before 1 December 2025,” MBIE said in a statement.

“A pet bond cannot be charged for these pets, but tenants will be fully liable for any pet related damage above fair wear and tear caused after 1 December 2025.”

But parts of the industry were proving slow to catch up with the rules.

David Pearse, managing director of Pukekohe Rental Managers, said he had a rush of inquiries but most tenants did not realise they still had to go through an application process.

“Property managers are struggling with owners that do not want pets and working within the stated exemptions. I believe that there will be a host of Tenancy Tribunal hearing decisions that will need to be held to start to give a clear picture of what is acceptable or not.

“An interesting side issue is that while many like the idea of a pet the cost of ownership has not been carefully considered, and with the bond required, has made many have second thoughts about getting a pet.”

Property Brokers general manager David Faulkner said Trade Me had recently changed its advertisements to say “pets by consent” because many property management companies were still advertising saying “no pets” without realising it could breach the new rules.

Sarina Gibbon, director of Tenancy Advisory, said she had seen instances online where people within the industry were advising tenants not to disclose their animals until they had confirmed a tenancy.

“There are cynical players trying to game the system. My general view is that unless the economic model of renting to tenants with pets shift and unless we have more pet-friendly champions from the landlord side stepping forward to show leadership, we are always going to have to grapple with bad faith dealing.”

Joanna Pidgeon, a director of Pidgeon Judd and a member of The Law Association’s Property Law Committee, said any landlords who said they would not allow pets outright were likely to be breaking the rules.

“We have heard anecdotally that people are finding that they are discriminated against in terms of obtaining a tenancy when they disclose that they have a pet.

“It is very hard to prove that it is discrimination because maybe that there is a better tenant out there that has a better credit record or better references. But people with pets are still finding it very hard to locate tenancies when they disclose that they have pets.

“We are hearing anecdotally that people are feeling discouraged from disclosing it up front, whereas you can, once you have a tenancy, request to have a pet and then the law obviously applies that you can’t unreasonably withhold that consent.

“If a landlord did withhold that consent unreasonably, then you’d be able to prove there was a problem and you could take action and say go to the tenancy tribunal about it.

“Whereas if you just don’t get picked to be a tenant, if there’s a shortage of rental properties, it’s very easy for landlords to pick someone else and very hard for a tenant to prove that it was because they wanted to have a pet that they weren’t chosen as a tenant.”

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