Overview
First home buyers remain active and resilient, accounting for over 26% of purchases nationwide in Q2, supported by KiwiSaver, low-deposit loans, and prices 16% below peak.
‘Mums and Dads’ with smaller portfolios are driving the investor comeback, especially within cheaper pockets of the housing market (bottom 30%), with activity rising in that bracket to 24% in 2025 so far from 21% last year.
‘Movers’ could be next to watch, with signs of likely pent-up demand to relocate due to shifting household circumstances.
Cotality's latest Buyer Classification data for June is in and it offers a full view of buyer behaviour across New Zealand for Q2. The figures point to a resilient and active first home buyer segment amid ongoing (but slightly lesser) affordability challenges. At the same time, ‘Mum and Dad’ investors continue to raise their activity levels, gravitating towards more affordable parts of the market.
First home buyers still strong
Over the three months to June, the broad trends for each of the different buyer groups that we’ve been seeing for a while have held in place.
First home buyers (FHBs) have accounted for a touch more than 26% of property purchases over the past three months, continuing to hover at or around record highs. Christchurch and Dunedin came in at 27% for FHBs in Q2, with Auckland at 29%, Hamilton 32%, and wider Wellington higher still at 36%. In a busier overall market, the number of FHB deals is steadily rising around the country too.
Why is this happening? FHBs continue to benefit from being able to tap into their KiwiSaver for at least part of the deposit, as well making full use of the low deposit lending allowances at the banks (under the LVR rules). The fact that property values nationally remain 16% below the peak is an extra factor in buyers’ favour at present, as is the still-strong desire to ‘get on the ladder’ despite mortgage costs typically being higher than rents.
Smaller players are driving the investor comeback
Elsewhere, mortgaged multiple property owners (MPOs, including investors) remain on the comeback trail, accounting for around 23% of purchases in Q2 – still shy of their long-term average of about 25%, but up from the trough of 21% in the middle of last year. Among the main centres, Auckland and Christchurch saw 26% of activity go to mortgaged MPOs in Q2, with Hamilton a little higher again at 27%.
A closer look at the data reveals that this rebound for MPOs is being led by smaller investors; those with a total portfolio of up to four properties (including their own home) have seen their share of the market rise from 12% to 14%.
Meanwhile, there’s also been an increasingly active focus toward the more affordable end of the market. Mortgaged MPOs’ share of purchases in the bottom 30% of properties by value has risen from 21% in 2024 to 24% so far in 2025.
NZ % share of property purchases per quarter
Additionally, there is a growing preference among mortgaged investors for existing properties (as opposed to new-builds). So far they’ve accounted for 23% of existing property purchases in 2025, up from 20% in 2024.
Of course, none of this is surprising. After all, existing properties no longer have the same tax disadvantages they carried when interest deductibility was being phased out, and the abundance of listings on the market probably also means some savvy investors can pick up ‘bargains’ in the lower price brackets, potentially with higher rental yields.
Similarly, lower mortgage rates will be making property investment more appealing to a wider range of ‘Mums and Dads’, given that they directly reduce the cashflow top-ups out of other income that are typically required on a rental property purchase. Over the past year or so, a typical top-up might have fallen from $400-$500 per week to about $200 now.
That said, it’s not all one-way traffic for investors at present. After all, rents have generally gone flat lately, even dipping in key markets such as Auckland and Wellington, costs such as council rates continue to rise, and the debt-to-income ratio rules for mortgage lending might just be starting to bite for some would-be investors.
Movers might be a group to watch
Over the next quarter or two, there seems a good chance that FHBs and mortgaged investors will continue to find market conditions to their liking. But movers (i.e. relocating owner occupiers ) could be worth watching, given that they’ve been relatively quiet in recent years yet changes in household circumstances such as births, marriages, job shifts are always happening.
In other words, there might be some pent-up demand to move house, and as we outlined in a recent article, a sluggish market can be an ideal time to do so.
Mortgaged MPOs’ % market share by size (after latest purchase)
