Source: RBNZ
This wave of refinancing doesn’ t simply shuffle debt; it lubricates the housing market. Each refinancing event creates an opportunity for a household to reassess its position: upgrade, downsize, invest, or re-enter the market entirely.
Data from the RBNZ shows around 12 per cent of all home loans are now on floating rates, and another one-third will reprice by March 2026. As those fixed terms expire, the flow-through of lower repayments will release disposable income back into the economy – a slow-burning stimulus that supports spending, business confidence, and mobility.
FIRST HOME BUYERS STEP FORWARD
While investors dominated the early 2020s, 2025 has also quietly become the year of the first home buyer.
More than half of this cohort – a record 51 per cent – have purchased homes with deposits of less than 20 per cent, reflecting lenders’ active efforts to support the market segment.
Collectively, first home buyers now account for around three-quarters of all low-deposit owner-occupier lending, further demonstrating how first home buyer activity is
driving the market’ s momentum at the lower end of the price bracket.
That momentum has the potential to strengthen from 1 December, when the RBNZ relaxes loan-to-value ratio( LVR) speed limits, allowing lenders to allocate up to 25 per cent of their owner-occupier book above the 80 per cent deposit threshold, and up to 10 per cent of investor loans above 70 per cent.
The practical outcome is expected to be that more mortgage applications are approved faster, and there is an injection of energy into entry-level and investment segments.
It’ s easy to forget how quickly such changes can shift the landscape. The last time LVRs were loosened, transaction volumes jumped almost immediately, and regional markets responded first.
The same pattern may emerge again, particularly across the South Island, where affordability and income growth remain out in front.
Investors, for now, are testing the waters rather than diving in.
RAY WHITE NOW NEW ZEALAND | 24