While we’ve done a great job bringing down inflation and interest rates and generally setting ourselves on a path to economic recovery, the latest geopolitical events that are hopefully short lived highlight the need for flexibility, to that end its timely to take a look at options available if they’re prolonged.

Introduced in 2025 and designed to stimulate capital spending and support economic growth in the form of accelerated depreciation, the Gov’t Investment Boost scheme allows a further 20% depreciation on the purchase price of new qualifying assets in the financial year of acquisition, on top of standard depreciations that normally apply.

With the newly appointed Reserve Bank Governor Anna Breman now settled into her role for the next five years and in tune with the heartbeat of the country, the Feb 18th decision to hold the OCR at 2.25% ushers in a period of stability with mortgage rates remaining largely unchanged since the announcement.

In a move set to boost access to affordable housing finance, ASB Bank has become a participating lender with Kāinga Ora, opening the door for more first home buyers to enter the property market.

The Reserve Bank today 18^th Feb 2026 decided to hold the Official Cash Rate ( OCR ) at 2.25%.

Taking a walk through the mortgage maze you’ll come across a few dead ends with twists and turns you can readily get lost in and guess what, it’s always changing. The Reserve Bank sets the rules and trading banks adhere to those rules each with their own criteria to meet. That’s where a good mortgage adviser can walk you through the process.

As New Zealand’s housing market evolves, first-home buyers and investors alike are weighing the benefits of new builds against turnkey options — each offering distinct advantages, particularly when it comes to financing and deposit requirements.

How to get on the property ladder as national confidence lifts — and what it means for Taupō.

First of all the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) who issue licenses to advisers prefer the word adviser to broker, hence we’re called licensed financial advisers now, same thing.

The FMA protocols are set around consultative rather than transactional engagement with measures in place to ensure clients best interests always come first with levels of skill and competence maintained engaging in continued professional development and with the FMA regulated by the Reserve Bank, we follow protocol.

With Reserve Bank expectations for economic growth increasing from -0.5% in Sept 2025 to 2.8% in March 2027 to climb through 3.1% in 2028 and inflation to fall from 3% to 2.2% then 2.0% and economists stating ‘this is what the markets have priced in’, we’re back in positive territory and heading in the right direction.

Congratulations NZ, we’ve finally done it!

We’ve shaved 3.25% off the Official Cash Rate ( OCR ) in nine steps down from 5.5% 15 months ago to settle at 2.25% on 26th Nov to take us through to the next announcement on 18th Feb, the big question on everyone’s lips is ‘where to from here’?

It’s the age old question and the answer is – it depends!

New Zealand’s proposed new earthquake-rating framework is set to reshape the commercial property landscape, altering how buildings are valued, financed, and insured — and offering a possible lifeline to one of the country’s most iconic heritage structures, the Chateau Tongariro.

In New Zealand’s dynamic property market, commercial property mortgages continue to play a crucial role in supporting business growth and investment. From office buildings and retail spaces to warehouses and rural assets, commercial lending provides the financial backbone for enterprises seeking to expand or secure long-term premises.

As peak season approaches, many businesses face the familiar cash flow crunch — suppliers demanding upfront payment while customers take weeks to settle their accounts. It’s a common roadblock that can stall growth, tie up capital, and limit your ability to take on new opportunities and scale, right when demand is highest.

Starting and running your own business is the dream of a lot of people, the thrill of being your own boss, doing it your way and the freedom to create what you want, its exciting and scary all in one and when you finally achieve success you wonder why you didn’t do it years earlier, speaking from experience here.

In the current economic climate it may seem like its taking forever for the economy to get going, with GDP still low and OCR / interest rate easing taking a while to take effect, it was always going to be a long slow pull. Getting through is key but how?

Since the start of this year we’ve said that 2025 will be all about easing while everything settles down, setting us up for a recovery starting late 2025, through 26 and into 27.

As much anticipated, The Reserve Bank has today reduced the Official Cash Rate by 50 basis points from 3.0% to now sit at 2.5% with potential for more decreases to come taking us well into stimulative territory.

Kicking off our sector on business finance is Invoice Finance, also known as factoring, while popular overseas it’s a highly underutilised facility in NZ.