Although the cloudy economic weather of 2025 brought few silver linings, many people are beginning 2026 by optimistically dusting themselves off and hoping for an improved outlook.
Good news: economists are projecting a positive start to 2026, tentatively forecasting economic growth for New Zealand over the year. This could mean greater opportunity to harness improvements in the economy and the flow-on effects they can have on personal finances.
While opportunities may increase, it’s crucial to not let any lingering emotions from last year’s financial performance impact your decision-making.
Stick to your financial plan, identify opportunities when they arise, and ensure your decisions strategically align with your goals. If you don’t have a solid financial plan, the start of a new year is a great time to put one in place and gain direction with your finances.
To help you kickstart the year with financial optimism, we’ve curated a collection of commentary from Kiwi economists and financial institutions about the year ahead. At the end of this blog, we’ll also reveal one small – but significant – change that could make the biggest difference to your financial outlook for 2026.
What Are Economists Saying About 2026?
The property market
There are signs that the property market in New Zealand is becoming increasingly favourable for buyers, and that this may continue into 2026.
Cotality Chief Property Economist Kelvin Davidson says that more property listings and a weaker economy offset lower mortgage rates, while a greater housing supply overall helped keep property prices in check.
Looking to the year ahead, lower interest rates and a higher supply of housing may lead to lower buying prices – which potentially allows first-home buyers, who were previously locked out of the market in the last few years, to step onto the property ladder.
But this year is ultimately about identifying opportunities and creating a strategy that gives you the confidence to act when they reveal themselves.
“You’re looking at 40 to 50 percent of mortgages going to see a rate change pretty shortly and it should be downwards – that cash will start to come through. It’s the year of rebuilding confidence,” says Davidson.
Household spending
The New Zealand economy is showing signs of recovery. The Treasury is forecasting GDP to rise to 3.4% in 2026, which indicates a strengthening economy and has a flow-on effect on household spending.
Shamubeel Eaqub, Simplicity chief economist, shares that “some of the distress is fading” and offers a balanced but optimistic view about the year ahead.
“I think there has been a real expansion of poverty in New Zealand, there’s a chunk of New Zealanders that are continuing to do it really tough.”
For those that have been living week-to-week, it’s expected that the sense of financial recovery will not be felt evenly. Many households may find more value in reviewing and recalibrating their budget ahead of time.
“They work in industries that have relative low-wage, they work and live in places where the cost of living has gone up a lot with rents… so these things are not going to turn around quickly.”
Westpac Chief Economist, Kelly Eckhold, said he was expecting the economy to be much stronger in 2026 compared to a flat 2025 – although households might not see much wage growth initially, inflation should be weaker to help ease general living costs.
“That’s supported by lower interest rates in the coming year… We think we probably have much more balanced growth in 2026,” Eckhold said, “The cost-of-living crisis should ease off a bit.”
Inflation
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand expects inflation to fall to 2% by mid-2026 – lowering from 3% in the September 2025 quarter.
Infometrics Chief Forecaster, Gareth Kiernan, agrees that the outlook for 2026 should be an improvement on the previous year.
“I think between the effects of the strong prices over the last 18 months and the low interest rates and the government doing more in the infrastructure space… you put all those together and there are enough signs that growth should be better.”
What This Means for Your Financial Plan
While the commentary is moving in a positive direction, be aware that only you can put the work in to harness any economic improvements to make your money work harder than you do.
Here’s your essential 2026 Get Started To-Do List:
- Review your financial strategy and plan
- If you haven’t got both of these in place, create them
- Revisit your goals and ensure they’re aligned with your future vision
- Avoid bringing the ‘emotional hangover’ of 2025 into your 2026 decision-making
- Ensure your financial habits and systems are supporting you to make progress
- Get accountability to motivate you as you build towards your goals
Ultimately, the best thing you can do is take action, making sure not to waste any opportunities that come up.
You can end 2026 proud of the progress you’ve made throughout the year towards your goals – but it’s up to you to make it happen.
Make One Change to Improve Your Personal Finances
The best news for your financial progress in 2026 is: you don’t need to know everything about the economy and personal finances to get ahead.
That’s our job at enable.me, with independent, qualified financial coaches that are informed and experienced – so you don’t have to be.
Instead of sitting in front of the computer, wracking your brain over complicated spreadsheets and counting decimal points in long news articles, our financial coaches can do the research for you and curate a strategy that aligns with your goals.
Because the most important change you can make for your finances this year is getting a financial adviser in your corner to cut through the noise and provide clarity for your financial plan.
If you’re ready to build your strategic plan, an enable.me financial coach is ready to help.
Contact us today to chat through your options and book a no-obligation initial financial consultation (valued at $400, but you can secure this session for $149 until February 2nd, 2026).
Costs apply for ongoing programmes if you choose to continue with working with us beyond your no-obligation initial financial consultation. You can find more information about our coaching programmes on the enable.me website.
