Healthy Homes risks, interest rates and a Bunnings perk worth checking

Some of you will have read about Bunnings’ new loyalty scheme and may be wondering how that affects your NZPIF discount – the short answer is it doesn’t. This new scheme is more focussed on the retail shopper and offers rewards, rather than the discount you get from being a Property Investor Association/NZPIF member. 

However, that story is a good prompt to check you’re making the most of your Bunnings discount. NZPIF has negotiated a pretty good deal for our members, which if used properly will save you far more than your PIA membership fee. The discount varies across product line, but it’s well above what’s on offer under this new loyalty scheme. NZPIF members also have access to discounts across over 66,000 products, compared to around 4,000 products available to trade PowerPass members. 

To get the best discounts and the best shopping experience, you need to use the PowerPass app. Don’t be put off by that, it’s super easy. You need two things. 

First, get an NZBN, or New Zealand Business Number. That might sound like too much hard work, or you might think you can only get one if you’re running a company or a trust, but neither are true. Any sole trader can get one, and that means every single property investor with one property or more. It’s dead easy, I did it as a test and it took about 15 minutes. Follow this link for all the information you’ll need. 

The second thing to do is register as an NZPIF member with Bunnings. This bit is super important as it connects you to the NZPIF discounts. If you don’t do it this way, it’ll take longer and you may not get the discounts at all. Note: the link won’t work today, Bunnings are updating the PowerPass system. Try it later in the week. 

Once you have those things in place, it’s easy as. Then the best bit is you get to use the app to do your shopping instore. Scan items, pop them in your shopping trolley, pay via the app when you’re done, and walk out. No need to queue or go to the till. So easy. 

If you’re a long-time reader, you’ll know I love data, especially new data – facts beat reckons any day of the week. So, I was delighted to be sent some new data on healthy homes Tribunal cases by MiHT, a company which maintains healthy homes systems – like heat pumps, ventilation etc. 

They analysed five months of Tenancy Tribunal cases to identify key themes. It’s a tough data set to analyse, as Tribunal cases often combine multiple claims, but the data they have extracted is worth reading. Here are some key findings: 

• Tenants initiated 77% of Healthy Homes-related cases. The other 23% were landlord-initiated, often rent arrears claims which triggered Healthy Homes counterclaims. 

• Landlords lost 73% of cases where Healthy Homes compliance was the primary issue, and 100% of primary claims relating to heating and ventilation standards. 

• Financial consequences can be substantial. The average Tribunal award was ~$4,150 and the total across 348 cases in the study was $336,515.82. 

• Documentation is critical, with Tribunal outcomes often determined by the quality of records and evidence. 

• The most effective risk-management strategy is to assess, fix, document and retain evidence of compliance. 

• The good news: 348 cases in five months equates to about 835 a year, which is only about a quarter of one percent of all rental accommodation providers. 

MiHT’s report is long and detailed, but worth reading if you have time. If you don’t, then NZPIF has created a one-page summary which highlights the key findings, found here.  

MiHT plan to repeat their report every six months, which should create a useful and interesting data set. Great work. 

Radio NZ published a fascinating look at how many cases Kāinga Ora are taking to the tenancy tribunal. In 2024 KO implemented a “firm but fair” approach to managing tenancies. As they put it, their job is to provide their clients with a stable home for as long as they need it, and in return, KO expects them to be good tenants and neighbours. 

In the first year of that policy, Kāinga Ora instigated 6,108 Tenancy Tribunal cases. The following year, it was 5154. What’s missing from the story is even more interesting – how many claims did KO make in the years before the policy change? Was there a big jump in the number of claims as a result? There was a fall of nearly 1,000 cases from year one to year two – is that random or the result of better tenant management? 

Well, the economists who predicted an OCR increase were right, and those calling for a hold were ignored. It was a consensus decision by the monetary policy committee and there has been very little negative commentary about it. In part at least it’s being viewed as a necessary response to the fuel price shock and signs our economy is picking up. 

At the time of writing, fixed interest rates haven’t changed, but Westpac, Kiwibank, BNZ and ASB have all lifted their floating rates by the full 0.25%. That shouldn’t affect many investors, most of whom will have locked in a good fixed rate a while back and if they have any floating it’ll be on an offset mortgage, with a much lower effective rate. 

The major banks and many economists expect the OCR to be increased twice more by the end of 2026, taking it to 3%, a roughly neutral level. There’s still uncertainty around this, not least in relation to the Iran/USA war which flared up a bit last week. However, even that issue seems to be being treated as part business as usual, and won’t be a major drag on the economy. Let’s hope that’s correct. 

I said I wouldn’t bother much with individual polls from here on in, because they bounce around so much – but a poll came out last week that I think is worth a brief mention, so I’ll break that self-imposed rule. 

The Taxpayer Union/Curia poll’s latest iteration showed a slight drop in the Labour vote and a slight increase for National, with the current coalition still winning power – just. Opportunity (formerly TOP) was on 3.3% – quite high for this poll. But those aren’t the interesting bits. 

No, it’s the right direction/wrong direction question that should make you sit up and take notice. While a net 6.3% still think the country is headed in the wrong direction, that’s up 12.5 percentage points on last month’s poll and is the highest since November 2025. This is a key indicator of voter sentiment. If people think the country is going the wrong way, then the government is in trouble. The coalition will want to see this measure get into positive territory, the opposition will be hoping it doesn’t.