Lifetime Property Accounting

Lifetime Property Accounting Creating greater financial certainty through all life stages. Property decisions are big-dollar decisions.

Lifetime Property Accounting
Specialists in property tax, structuring, and investment accounting for nearly 20 years. The right structure can save you thousands in tax, protect your assets, and keep your cash flow working for you. The wrong one can lock you into costly mistakes that are difficult to undo. That’s why property investors need more than a general accountant; they need a specialist who understands the rules, the risks, and the opportunities unique to property. From rentals to developments and trading, property decisions all come with tax rules, structures, and long-term implications to navigate. At Lifetime Property Accountants, we focus on making those decisions clearer and your accounting simpler with tools like Xero. We specialise in guiding investors through every stage of property ownership. We can help you with:
Buying or selling rentals – understand cashflow and tax implications before you commit. Reviewing your rental portfolio – ensure your properties are set up in the most tax-effective way. Turning your home into a rental – know the financial and tax consequences upfront. Developments and subdivisions – assess whether adding units or building new property will create equity and workable cashflow. Property trading – understand GST rules, tainting, and risk management. Ownership structures – including Trusts and Look-Through Companies (LTCs). Long-term property strategy – align your decisions with future goals

Xero integration – make your accounting easier with cloud-based tools

A great starting point is to organise a free 5 or 10 minute chat with Ross to see how we can help - https://www.lifetime.co.nz/business-advice/accounting/lifetime-property-accounting/

Just in from NZPIF - Labour has just announced that it they will not bring back Interest Limitation. This was the policy...
21/09/2026

Just in from NZPIF - Labour has just announced that it they will not bring back Interest Limitation.

This was the policy we were most worried about, as it affects cashflow for property investors and, frankly, makes no sense at all.

Labour is still proposing a Capital Gains Tax (CGT), which is slightly better from a property investment perspective, as it is only payable upon sale and does not affect weekly or annual cashflow.

Overall, this is great news!

Here are a few recent economic and property indicators. These suggest higher inflationary pressure and, in theory, hig...
19/09/2026

Here are a few recent economic and property indicators. These suggest higher inflationary pressure and, in theory, higher interest rates ahead.

1. Crude Oil prices have jumped up in the last month. See graph.

2. Selected price index for August show that food prices has increased 0.3% and petrol prices by 2% during the month. These are just one month's figures and likely to contribute to higher overall inflation.

3. Net Migration has been reasonably strong for 2026, with a net gain of 13,810 people in the first 7 months of the year.
- January 1,534
- February 4,148
- March 1,090
- April 44
- May -507
- June 2,331
- July 5,170

4. 1 year swap rates in NZ jumped from 3.43% on 10/9/26 to 3.68% on 18/9/26.

5. Inflation rates
- US inflation was 0.4% for the month of August (if this was annualised, 4.8%!)
- UK inflation was 0.5% for the month of August (if this was annualised, 6%!)
- NZ inflation was 1.5% for the June quarter (if this was annualised, 6%!)

6. Official cash rates
- Europe raised its key interest rate by 0.25% in September. The main refinancing rate is now 2.65%.
- The US raised rates by 0.25% in September. The target range is now 3.75% to 4%.
- Australia's cash rate has been 4.35% since May.
- New Zealand's OCR is 3.25%

7. New Zealand Unemployment rate was 5.6% for June 2026 quarter. An alternative measure comes from Benefit fact sheets, which shows 12.8% of working age New Zealanders are receiving a main benefit. Both figures are high!

New Zealand's September quarter inflation data will be released on 22 October 2026, with the next OCR review scheduled for 28th October.

At this stage, the general consensus is that the OCR will increase again on 28th October. However, very interestingly, Westpac has just dropped it's Two year interest rate, which could be an indication that higher inflation and interest rates may be shorter term trend.

Scary!!! In theory, higher inflation leads to higher interest rates.
17/09/2026

Scary!!!

In theory, higher inflation leads to higher interest rates.

Free recording available of our Rental Property Basics webinar last night.https://www.youtube.com/live/V0pzj_WgJlw?si=Lu...
16/09/2026

Free recording available of our Rental Property Basics webinar last night.

https://www.youtube.com/live/V0pzj_WgJlw?si=LutpyvM03CSrt-Ne

Learn the basics about residential property investment from property accounting specialist Ross Barnett.

This will include;
1. Major issue or problem with stock standard rentals.
2. The steps to buying a rental (looking on a real estate website or speaking with a mortgage advisor is not the best place to start).
3. A great solution that can work for many new property investors (lower risk, better cashflow, and easier).
4. If you are buying a rental property, what does it need for you to succeed?
5. Should you buy solely for cashflow?
6. An example of tax payable each year on a high cashflow property, plus a tip to reduce the tax due.
7. Townhouses - Why, in general, we don't like them.
8. Property history - Why did property values boom?

This webinar is aimed at those wanting to invest and new property investors.

Free property basics webinar tonight!Learn the basics about residential property investment from property accounting spe...
15/09/2026

Free property basics webinar tonight!

Learn the basics about residential property investment from property accounting specialist Ross Barnett.

This will include;
1. Major issue or problem with stock standard rentals.
2. The steps to buying a rental (looking on a real estate website or speaking with a mortgage advisor is not the best place to start).
3. A great solution that can work for many new property investors (lower risk, better cashflow, and easier).
4. If you are buying a rental property, what does it need for you to succeed?
5. Should you buy solely for cashflow?
6. An example of tax payable each year on a high cashflow property, plus a tip to reduce the tax due.
7. Townhouses - Why, in general, we don't like them.
8. Property history - Why did property values boom?

This webinar is aimed at those wanting to invest and new property investors.

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_isNcLoGaTGeLJQbqRhaaEg #/registration


Can we legally move debt from a personal house (non deductible) to rental properties (deductible)? We are constantly rev...
14/09/2026

Can we legally move debt from a personal house (non deductible) to rental properties (deductible)?

We are constantly reviewing this opportunity for all our clients, and one option is a restructure. Here is an example of a recent restructure (rounded numbers).

- Former personal house worth $500,000 with no debt.
- Former personal house being converted to a rental property and intended to be held for 10+ years.
- Buying a new personal house for $800,000.

Before the Mortgage Advisor came to us for advice, the couple were simply looking at borrowing $800,000 to buy their new personal house. In this situation, all of the debt would be non deductible.

A mistake we often see is mortgage advisers offering guidance on tax matters, which falls outside their area of expertise. That was not the case in this example, but we often see the Mortgage Advisors suggesting something like "Borrow $300,000 secured against the rental property". This does absolutely nothing for tax purpose. If the borrowing is used to buy the personal house, the $300,000 is still non deductible.

For tax purposes, the security does not matter!

We met with the investors, reviewed the cashflow of the prospective rental and confirmed they intended to hold it long term (there is no point restructuring if they only plan to keep it for 6 to 18 months!).

Every situation is different. The advice and ownership structure will change depending on the investors specific situation. In this case, we sold the former personal house to the new LTC.

The LTC borrowed $500,000 to buy the rental property. The borrowings was used to acquire the rental property, so the interest is deductible (under current rules).

Our end result was:
- $300,000 personal house debt (non deductible)
- $500,000 rental property debt (deductible to LTC)

Cost vs benefit - We expect to save approximately $22,000 in tax over 10 years, vs approx. legal fees of approximately $3,000. There is a significant long term benefit from undertaking this restructure!

Tax avoidance - If something is done solely to reduce tax, it will generally be considered tax avoidance, and we could not do it.

Be very careful around tax avoidance, as we see some very poor advice been given by certain accounting firms.
In this example, there is no tax avoidance issue, as it follows QB 12/11, an IRD Question we've been asked, that gives guidance that this exact situation is NOT tax avoidance. The key factor is changing from personal use to rental use.

Risks or issues - in this example, a new 2 year brightline period has started. If the LTC sells the rental property within 2 years, any gain will be taxable.
This risk is minimised by selling the property for the highest value possible.

Want to explore your options? - A great starting point for reducing personal debt and increasing tax deductible debt is to have a free chat with Ross. You can book a time here:
https://www.lifetime.co.nz/business-advice/accounting/lifetime-property-accounting/book-a-consultation-property-accounting/

Big 0.23% jump!Be careful with interest rates!
11/09/2026

Big 0.23% jump!

Be careful with interest rates!

What level of capital gain is needed to break even on a poor cashflow rental property over 10 years?Roughly 3.50%!! We ...
10/09/2026

What level of capital gain is needed to break even on a poor cashflow rental property over 10 years?

Roughly 3.50%!! We were really amazed how low this was!

This is an example we showed on 28th August of a $880,000 investment property that a property investor purchased. The rental was expected to lose $21,768 per year. https://www.facebook.com/thepropertyaccountant/posts/pfbid02kLDFi8hweRsgaqTc9hM9SX2gQX6KVD86thyC1neK1EM6zH2xZqQgzmj8bUFTjQX9l

This was a poor cashflow property, and definitely not something we recommended or liked.
1. Our 10 year prediction showed this property would require $227,000 top up to break even, on an interest only basis. In other words, a cash loss of $227,000 over 10 years.

2. If, instead of topping up this investment property, the average $22,700 was invested in a managed fund, the Sorted.org.nz calculator shows this would grow to generate $96,590 over the 10 years, assuming a7% annual return.

3. This results in a total shortfall of $323,630 over 10 years (see picture in comments)

If the property increased in value by 3.2% per year for 10 years, it would generate $325,812 capital gain, meaning the investment would essentially break even over that period. Allowing for selling costs, the property would need to increase in value 3.5% per year, equating to around $360,000 of capital gain over 10 years, to truly break even.

Why haven’t we adjusted for inflation?

Because most property investors borrow the full 100% of purchase price from the bank, it is the banks money, rather than investor’s own money, that isn’t keeping up with inflation.

Overall, we are quite surprised that only 3.5% annual capital gain is required for an investor to break even over 10 years on such a poor cashflow property.


Where are you looking to buy property? This table is based on Stats NZ data and shows which regions are expected to grow...
09/09/2026

Where are you looking to buy property?

This table is based on Stats NZ data and shows which regions are expected to grow the most over the next 30 years.

We will post a second image in the comments showing the Territorial areas, which shows a slightly different picture.

In theory, more people = higher long term rents and property prices. However, there are many other factors that influence these outcomes. A key factor is how many houses are being built relative to population growth, which we have covered in previous posts.

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520 Colombo Street
Christchurch
8140

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Tuesday 8am - 4pm
Wednesday 8am - 4pm
Thursday 8am - 4pm
Friday 8am - 4pm

Telephone

+64 7 839 2801

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