High net worth investment opportunities in NZ, held directly and in your own name

High net worth investment opportunities in NZ now include direct private credit: lending against New Zealand property for a contracted return, outside the banks. Co-funding with HomeSec is its most direct form. You pick each secured loan, your entity is named on the mortgage, terms usually run 1 to 12 months, and HomeSec’s own money sits in the same loan.

HomeSec Business Finance, a private business lender lending since 2004, with its New Zealand office in Auckland, lends mainly from its own balance sheet. On selected loans it asks wholesale investors to take a share: family offices, high net worth individuals, family trusts and companies. Loans pay 12% to 18% p.a., with the rate fixed for each loan and shown in its pack.

What are wealthy New Zealanders doing with idle capital in 2026?

Mostly, looking for something that pays better than the bank without giving up control. Deposit rates have had a rough couple of years. The Reserve Bank took the Official Cash Rate from 5.50% in mid-2024 to 2.25% in November 2025, then lifted it to 2.75% on 2 September 2026 after inflation reached 4.1% in the June quarter. A 12-month term deposit at one of the big banks pays about 4.00% to 4.05%, and Rabobank heads the bank table at 4.15%, according to termdepositrates.co.nz on 26 September 2026.

Size is the second issue. The Depositor Compensation Scheme, in force since July 2025, protects up to $100,000 if a bank or other licensed deposit taker fails. A family holding $4 million in cash after selling a business is mostly outside that cover.

The third issue is memory. Plenty of New Zealand families lost money, or waited years for it, when the finance companies fell over between 2006 and 2012. Experienced investors here are wary of anything they cannot see inside, and they are right to be.

Which option does which job?

No single asset does everything. The useful question is what each one is for.

Co-funding is not a growth asset and shouldn’t replace one. It is a home for capital you want working hard for months rather than years, without riding the share market, currency swings or a single company’s fortunes. Our guide to where to invest $1 million in New Zealand weighs the options for a large balance in more depth.

Where does a 12% to 18% return come from?

From borrowers paying for speed, not from weak borrowers. Most are established businesses with equity in property they already own, who need funds faster, or on more flexible terms, than a bank will manage. HomeSec can make a decision within hours, and settlement is possible within days. That is what the higher rate buys.

The banks leave room for it. The Reserve Bank’s May 2026 Financial Stability Report found small New Zealand firms paid about 390 basis points over the 90-day rate for bank credit over the past three years, and were more likely than larger firms to face higher costs or terms they couldn’t accept. An owner with a time-critical need and good property will often pay a premium to get it done.

Why hold loans directly rather than units in a fund?

Because in New Zealand the difference has been costly. The FMA lists 51 finance companies that went into receivership or liquidation, or froze payments, between 2006 and 2012, and RNZ reported that about 200,000 investors were still owed roughly $3 billion. Pooled mortgage funds were caught as well: the Guardian Trust Mortgage Fund froze in July 2008 with $249 million from about 3,700 investors. After Du Val Group entered statutory management in 2024, RNZ reported that its Mortgage Fund investors were unlikely to benefit from recoveries.

Holding a loan directly changes what you own. The loan agreement is drawn up in your entity’s name, and that entity is recorded on the mortgage for its contribution, next to HomeSec. Repayments go to your account, not into a pool that then pays everyone else. If another investor wants out, it makes no difference to you.

That is the gap between private credit you own and private credit you are merely exposed to. Our side-by-side of direct mortgage investment vs pooled funds takes each point in turn.

How does an investment committee assess a loan?

The same way it assesses anything else: from a written file, one decision at a time. Before a loan reaches you, HomeSec has checked it against a 50-point due diligence checklist, and both joint CEOs have been involved in the decision. What arrives by email is the pack that results:

• the property, its title and its current value
• the loan amount, the LVR and whether the mortgage ranks first or second
• the borrower, their business and what the money is for
• the term, the rate and how the loan will be repaid
• the risks particular to that loan

Your committee can approve it, ask questions or decline, for any reason: region, ranking, term, or because the book already holds enough of that kind of loan. There is no obligation to take any loan. Each decision sits against its own document, so the audit trail builds itself, which trustees and boards tend to value. Our lending rules list what every loan must pass before a pack is sent.

How might a family office build a book of loans?

Gradually, and on its own terms. You decide how much goes into each loan, from NZ$100,000, on loans of up to NZ$1 million.

Picture a family office with NZ$1 million set aside for secured income. Rather than placing it at once, it puts NZ$250,000 into the first loan that fits, then adds a second and a third as packs come through, each with a different borrower, property and end date. The balance waits in term deposits until the right loan appears. A few months later the office holds several loans maturing at different times, so repayments arrive in stages rather than in one lump.

The terms keep it flexible. When a loan repays, principal and interest land in your account and you choose again: fund the next loan, or send the money elsewhere. If plans change partway through, ask, and HomeSec will buy your share and return your principal. Nothing rolls over by default.

That suits capital between commitments: proceeds from a business sale awaiting a long term plan, money earmarked for a property purchase, or funds held ready for private equity calls.

Why does it matter that HomeSec’s money is in the same loan?

Because it ties the lender’s outcome to yours. HomeSec funds most of its lending from its own balance sheet and puts its own capital into each loan it offers to co-funders, on the same mortgage and the same terms. A loan that goes badly hurts HomeSec as well.

HomeSec also earns mostly when loans are repaid rather than when they are written, so writing volume for its own sake does nothing for it. Many pooled structures work the other way, with a manager holding little or none of its own money in the loans. Whoever you are assessing, ask plainly whose money sits in the loans. It is one of the most revealing questions in private credit.

What protects your capital, and what doesn’t?

No income investment is free of risk, and a manager who implies otherwise has told you something useful about themselves. What you can judge is how much has to go wrong before your capital is touched. On each co-funded loan:

• Equity comes first. Lending stops at 80% of current value on residential property, and lower on commercial.
• The security is registered. Your entity is on the mortgage over New Zealand real estate for its share.
• Terms are short. Most loans run 1 to 12 months.
• Property must be easy to sell. HomeSec does no construction or development lending and steers clear of unusual property.
• Enforcement follows set law. If a borrower defaults, the Property Law Act 2007 requires a default notice of not less than 20 working days before a mortgagee sale, and the seller must take reasonable care to obtain the best price reasonably obtainable. HomeSec runs that process with specialist lawyers, with its own money in the loan.

What those layers can’t prevent is delay, or loss in a deep enough fall. New Zealand house prices dropped about 16% on the REINZ index after the November 2021 peak, and BNZ puts Auckland about 22% and Wellington about 26% below their 2021 highs in nominal terms. That fall took around 18 months to play out, which is why lending against today’s values for short terms leaves each loan exposed to only part of any slide. Enforcement, if it comes, takes months.

Which entity should hold the investment?

Whichever fits the family’s structure. You can co-fund personally or through a company, a family trust or a dedicated family office entity, and the loan agreement and mortgage are in that entity’s name. Some families use more than one, choosing the entity loan by loan.

The entity needs to be a wholesale investor under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. Many family office companies meet the “large” test, with net assets or turnover above $5 million at the end of each of the last two financial years (FMA). Others qualify through investment activity, or as eligible investors with a certificate confirmed by a financial adviser, qualified statutory accountant or lawyer. Our wholesale investors guide covers each route.

Trustees have their own checklist. The Trusts Act 2019 asks for the care and skill of a prudent person of business when investing, and lists matters a trustee may weigh, including diversification, risk of capital loss, the length of the investment term and marketability (Chapman Tripp). A loan with a pack, a registered mortgage and a known end date is easy to record against each. Interest is taxable income, and trustee income above the $10,000 de minimis is taxed at 39%, so your accountant should confirm how it applies to you. Our guide for family trusts and companies goes further.

What does co-funding look like week to week?

Quiet, mostly. A pack lands in your inbox. You read it on the deck at the bach, between board meetings or in a hotel lobby in London, and reply yes or no. If it’s a yes, the agreement is prepared in your entity’s name, the borrower signs with their own lawyer, the mortgage is registered and you transfer your share at settlement. Then you get on with life until the repayment arrives.

That is rather the point. The hard work was building the wealth. This is a way to keep it earning strongly while you enjoy it, without handing the decisions to someone else.

When you’d like to look at a live pack, register your interest and our Funding Manager, available seven days on 09 888 6550, will contact you, with no obligation to go further.