\u201cWhile some seasonal deterioration is expected, it is important to reinforce the need for vigilance to stay alert to financial stress during peak spending periods.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite this, consumer arrears levels are 0.8% lower year on year, according to Centrix.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that year on year consumer arrears have been trending down now for several months is a good sign, and indicates the tide could be starting to turn,\u201d Lacey said.<\/p>\n
Demand for consumer credit was up 9.4% year on year, driven by heightened borrowing over the holiday period.<\/p>\n
\u201c[This] could be a sign that consumers are feeling more confident about the economy and are more comfortable making those higher cost purchases,\u201d Lacey said.<\/p>\n
Wider economic challenges have also contributed to a 41% increase in financial disputes in the first half of the financial year (July to December), according to figures released yesterday by the Financial Services Complaints Limited (FSCL).<\/p>\n
The Financial Ombudsman Service saw 235 disputes opened over that time, compared with 167 in the same period a year ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe expect high dispute levels to persist as long as economic conditions remain difficult for many,\u201d Financial Ombudsman Susan Taylor said.<\/p>\n
Taylor said KiwiSaver hardship withdrawal rejections were the greatest contributing factor, as people sought help paying their bills.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople often don\u2019t realise how strict the KiwiSaver rules are, leading to complaints about declined applications.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see people with ideas about using their KiwiSaver for longer-term financial relief\u2026 but KiwiSaver savings are meant for your retirement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Centrix said mortgage arrears edged up slightly to 1.37% of the active population in December, with 21,800 accounts reported as past due.<\/p>\n
The number of people behind on their mortgage repayments fell 8% year on year when compared with December 2024 (22,100).<\/p>\n
Personal loan arrears rose in December to 9.8%, up 6% year on year.<\/p>\n
Sharp spike in hospitality business failures<\/p>\n
The hospitality sector experienced the largest rise of annual liquidations in 2025, up 50% compared with the previous year.<\/p>\n
This was followed by retail trade (+34%), transport (+27%), property\/rental (+17%), construction (+13%) and manufacturing (+12%).<\/p>\n
Agriculture bucked the trend, with company liquidations down 11% year on year.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite these increases, early signs of improvement are emerging, with liquidation trends easing in six of the 19 industry sectors,\u201d Lacey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNotable improvements are being seen in agriculture, wholesale trade, and information media and telecommunications services.\u201d<\/p>\n
Overall company liquidations rose to 2934 in 2025, the highest annual level since 2010.<\/p>\n
Liquidations were up 17.1% in 2025 compared with the previous year when they hit 2505.<\/p>\n
Construction remained the leading contributor to company liquidations, with 751 firms liquidated in 2025. However, this represents just 0.9% of all registered construction companies.<\/p>\n
The hospitality sector ranked second, recording 376 liquidations for the year.<\/p>\n
Cameron Smith is an Auckland-based business reporter. He joined the Herald in 2015 and has covered business and sports. He reports on topics such as retail, small business, the workplace and macroeconomics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWhile some seasonal deterioration is expected, it is important to reinforce the need for vigilance to stay alert…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[97255,836,1443,3225,138,82880,18399,5399,219,30271,5904,71,78,296,807,3234,130,111,139,69,1118,145240,8262,67260,1237,2201],"class_list":{"0":"post-264491","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-97255","9":"tag-836","10":"tag-about","11":"tag-according","12":"tag-business","13":"tag-centrix","14":"tag-christmas","15":"tag-debt","16":"tag-economy","17":"tag-figures","18":"tag-final","19":"tag-from","20":"tag-in","21":"tag-into","22":"tag-kiwis","23":"tag-months","24":"tag-more","25":"tag-new-zealand","26":"tag-newzealand","27":"tag-nz","28":"tag-of","29":"tag-ramped","30":"tag-spending","31":"tag-spiral","32":"tag-two","33":"tag-went"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}