Where's My Money Season 4, Episode 2

Season Four of Where’s My Money?, now a multi-award-winning podcast, has arrived and we will share all the insights covered across the episodes by host Reagan White and his guests.

enable.me partners with rova to bring this podcast to life and stimulate the conversation about finances with everyday Kiwis. Where’s My Money? follows the story of Reagan – a man chasing the Kiwi Dream but feeling stuck living month-to-month – and his discussions with the experts about what he may be doing wrong and how to fix it.

One man. One million dollars of debt. One podcast to find a way out.

In June 2025, 630,000 Auckland property owners received new Capital Valuations released by the Auckland Council – and the average drop for residential homes is 9%. A bit of a shock for some, with many Aucklanders panicking about their home’s value.

Where’s My Money? host Reagan White brings enable.me financial coach and adviser Ray McKeown, and Ray White’s Ronald Hachache onto the podcast to figure out if it’s worth the worry, or if it’s not as big of a deal as it seems.

There’s been talk of CVs – what are they?

This time we’re not talking about job hunting; a CV – or Capital Valuation – is a metric governed by the local council that is primarily used to calculate rates bills for homeowners.

Rates fund essential council services like waste collection, infrastructure, and community amenities, and are allocated in proportion to the property value – so if your home is worth more, you pay higher rates.

Council valuations are completed every three years – based on an estimate of what the property would sell for at a specific set date. This recent valuation is based on the value in May 2024, even though they’re only being released to property owners in June 2025. CVs can impact the perception of a property’s value – but they should not be the only measurement of your home or property’s worth.

My CV has dropped and I’m worried

Real estate agent Ronald Hachache from Ray White gives his two cents about whether a drop in your CV is something to worry about.

“There’s a big misunderstanding out there on CVs and what they do and how they work and what they’re there for,” Ronald shares.

“There’s one thing that determines a property’s value – and that’s the market.”

The CV of a property doesn’t necessarily reflect the selling price in the marketplace, especially because it generally doesn’t take into account any modifications to the property that raise the value – the new kitchen, fresh secure fencing, or updated bathroom vanities.

Neither does it consider any local changes that may positively or negatively impact the market value of the property – like tall townhouses next door that impact the view.

“It doesn’t matter what anyone puts as a value on property – a property is always worth what the buyer who is prepared to pay the most for a property pays for it.”

They can’t be completely ignored though, as Ronald says, “there is some merit to them. You can’t count them out completely.”

He shares that the market will pay attention to them, but the only way to understand the value of your property is getting an appraisal from an agent or a registered property valuer – and then trying your luck on the market.

Is it all noise, or a dose of reality?

The kneejerk reaction when your CV drops is the feeling that your house is worth less than you paid for it, or less than it was worth a year ago – but that isn’t strictly true.

Ray McKeown – enable.me Financial Coach and prolific number cruncher – shares that CVs are only relevant if you are buying or selling a property. Even then, it’s worth what someone will pay for it, not a number on a council spreadsheet.

Ray says the hype and media surrounding the release of CVs is “creating a lot of noise, it’s not creating a lot of reality.”

“Your house is worth today what someone would pay for it if you sold it, not what the council thought it was worth a year ago.”

Ray reminds listeners to focus on following your financial plan – regardless of the noise. You might review and update it, but the trajectory remains the same.

“Look forward and decide where you want to be and how you want to get there. That’s what a plan is for,” he says.

“Doing nothing is a decision. It’s just not generally a very good one.”

If you’ve got a plan – the number on the CV doesn’t materially matter. More so, if you’re not buying or selling a house in the near future, it’s fairly irrelevant to your financial outlook.

That’s the key takeaway from this week’s episode of Where’s My Money? – but don’t take this blog’s word for it, listen to experts Ronald and Ray on the podcast to get the full download on CVs.

Disclaimer: The Where’s My Money? podcast and the information shared by host Reagan White and his guests does not constitute individual financial advice. If you’re interested in receiving financial advice, you can book a consultation with an enable.me coach. Costs apply.