Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa – PSNA

PSNA has congratulated Auckland City Councillors who voted this morning to investigate supporting sanctions against Israel for war crimes.

The Auckland Council Policy, Planning and Development Committee has just voted 14 to 2 to request a staff report by July on sanctioning companies on the UN’s Human Rights Council who are complicit with Israel’s illegal occupation and settlement of the Palestinian Territory.

“Israel has been stealing Palestinian land and moving Israeli settlers onto the land in defiance of international law”, says PSNA Co-Chair Maher Nazzal. 

“The local Palestinian community and our supporters sincerely thank the Auckland councillors who today have voted for steps to refuse to procure goods or services from any of the companies involved in building and maintaining these settlements.” 

“Auckland ratepayers deserve to know their rates are not being used to support Israeli war crimes, as designated by the UN General Assembly, Security Council, international conventions and the International Court of Justice.

Councillor Julie Fairey moved the resolution and rejected the arguments of councillors who opposed it, on the grounds that the Council should ‘stick to its knitting’, by stating decisions should be made so that ‘the needles and the wool do not have blood on them.

Councillor Maurice Williamson voted against the resolution.  But as a cabinet minister of the Key/English government at the time, he stated he had supported New Zealand co-sponsorship of the UN Security Resolution 2334 in 2016, calling Israeli settlements ‘a flagrant breach of international law’.

Williamson then went on to attack the UN Human Rights Council, falsely claiming it is chaired by Iran, when in fact the UNHRC’s President is from Indonesia.

Nazzal says, “Already six different local bodies have taken this step – it’s good to see Auckland following along the same path.”

Environment Canterbury (March 2024)

Christchurch City Council (October 2024)

Nelson City Council (December 2024)

Wellington City Council (August 2025)

Environment Southland (September 2025)

Palmerston North City Council (September 2025)

The United Nations Human Rights Commission has produced a list of 156 companies involved in illegal settlement activities; the database is here in a pdf: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session60/advance-version/a-hrc-60-19-aev.pdf

Maher Nazzal

Auckland, New Zealand – 14/04/2026 – New salary data shows that wages are rising, but most New Zealand workers feel no richer. This is revealing a widening disconnect between employer intentions and employee experience, exposing what recruitment experts are calling “The Salary Growth Illusion.”

Research from Robert Walters shows that at the start of 2026, 57% of professionals had received a pay rise from 2025. Yet, 81% say their pay still does not keep up with the rising cost of living. Shockingly, only 17% of employers acknowledge this gap – showing a significant disconnect between salary growth and actual salary growth.

Shay Peters, Robert Walters Australia and New Zealand CEO says, “Salary increases are happening, but for most people, they're being absorbed before they're even felt. On paper, it looks like progress, but in reality, employees are standing still. That disconnect is what we're calling the salary growth illusion, and it's starting to materially impact how people feel about their employer.”

Many New Zealanders are feeling the squeeze from higher prices across essentials. Annual consumer price inflation sat around 3.1% in the year to December 2025, slightly above the Reserve Bank's target range, meaning wages would have needed to rise by at least this amount just to maintain purchasing power.

Last year, most pay rises sat between 2.5-5%, translating to just $2,500-$5,000 extra per year on a $100,000 salary. This is insufficient to offset rising expenses.

Mid-senior roles see biggest increases, interns left behind

• 67% of businesses plan to increase salaries in 2026, while 56% of employees expect a pay rise. 
• Pay rises are more likely at associate and mid-senior levels (77-79% expected to get one), while interns have a 53% chance.
• Recruiters warn this is creating lasting damage that will prove detrimental over time.

“If organisations allow this gap to persist, the consequences go beyond today's workforce. You risk disengaging early-career professionals at a critical stage, weakening your long-term talent pipeline and creating retention challenges that compound over time.”

Tech, finance and legal leaders drive above‑average pay growth in New Zealand

While overall salary increases remain moderate across New Zealand, select roles and cities are breaking away from the pack. Auckland's senior technology and finance leaders recorded some of the sharpest rises, with AI engineers, DevOps specialists and senior data professionals seeing increases of up to $25-30k. In financial services, Auckland-based General Managers of Finance and Commercial Managers rose by as much as $30-50k, while Christchurch legal leaders stood out with General Counsel salaries jumping up to $30k year on year.

“What we're seeing in pockets of the market is a very deliberate premium being placed on capability. Where skills are scarce and roles are business-critical, employers are willing to stretch. It reinforces a clear divide between those with in-demand expertise and those in more saturated areas.” says Peters.  

Auckland leads salary momentum, with selective gains in Wellington and Christchurch

Auckland remains the clear centre of salary momentum in New Zealand, particularly across technology, executive finance and senior leadership roles. Wellington saw more selective growth, concentrated in cyber security and transformation roles, while Christchurch experienced fewer increases overall but delivered some of the largest single jumps in senior legal and finance positions.

The “Salary Growth Illusion” threatens retention and engagement

The perception gap has major implications for retention, engagement, and recruitment. With employees increasingly aware of the mismatch between their pay and the cost of living, businesses risk losing talent if they do not bridge this divide and with 53% of employees looking to move roles this year, retention is a big threat to employers.

“Addressing this isn't simply a question of increasing salaries. It's about aligning reward strategies with real-world pressures and being far more transparent in how those decisions are made. Employees don't just want more, they want to understand that their employer genuinely gets it” Peters concludes.

About Robert Walters

Robert Walters is a global talent solutions business, partnering with organisations across the world to deliver recruitment, recruitment outsourcing and advisory services. Established in 1985, the business has built a strong international presence, operating in over 30 countries.

In New Zealand, Robert Walters works with a broad range of organisations, supporting the recruitment of permanent, contract and temporary roles across disciplines including finance, technology, human resources, legal, business support and more.

About the research

Findings come from the 2026 Robert Walters Salary Guide which surveyed over 5,500 white collar professionals.  

First home buyers are still very keen

The latest figures show that first home buyers’ (FHBs) share of property purchases in the first three months of the year held up at more than 27% – well above their long-term average back to 2005 of around 22%. It’s easy to get a bit blasé about this continued strength for FHBs, but we shouldn’t; it’s more great news.

In Auckland, their share was even higher (about 30%), with Hamilton at 33%, and the wider Wellington area soaring, at 37% (including both Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt at 41%). Other areas of strength around the country in Q1 2026 included Gisborne, Napier, and Palmerston North (all 31%), as well as Hastings and Invercargill (both 29%).

There remain multiple supports for FHB activity. Obviously, lower house prices and reduced mortgage rates help, as does access to KiwiSaver for at least part of their deposit. But not even needing to save a 20% deposit in the first place is proving beneficial too – as part of the LVR rules, the latest Reserve Bank figures show that more than half of FHB loans over January and February were done at less than 20% equity.

Mortgaged investors are back

Turning to mortgaged multiple property owners – MPOs, including the cliched ‘Mum and Dad’ investors – from twin troughs of 21% of activity in Q2 2023 and again in Q2 2024, their share has recently risen back to around 24%, more or less in line with their long-term average. Auckland is up at 26%, Hamilton 28%, and Christchurch 25%.

The data also shows that it’s the smaller players driving the overall rise for mortgaged MPOs – i.e. those that now own two properties after their latest purchase (which would generally be their own home and their first rental property). The MPO 3-4 category has also risen from a trough back in the middle of 2024.

For the MPO buyer group, key supports also include lower house prices and mortgage rates, as well as the shift back to 100% deductibility for interest costs – with the net result being far smaller ‘top ups’ required from other income sources to keep the cashflow position going.

Indeed, our calculations suggest a ‘typical’ new investor may have had to find an extra $400-$450 per week when house prices were higher and mortgage rates were 7% or more (and interest deductions were being phased out), but now that’s perhaps $150-$200 instead – even though buildings insurance and council
rates have risen steadily. It remains a sizeable chunk of cash, but still a lot more feasible for more people.

Movers are still biding their time

Relocating owner-occupiers, or ‘movers’, are another key buyer group, although they’ve been quieter than normal in recent years – for example, accounting for around 26% of activity in Q1 this year, below their average of 28% or so.

History shows that they take their lead from wider consumer confidence levels, economic growth, and job security, with the patchiness of these factors helping to explain movers’ low presence lately – but also suggesting that if and when the economy recovers over the medium term, this group would tend to become more prominent again.

Where to next?

Taking a look ahead, the Iran conflict has put an extra layer of uncertainty over that potential economic recovery, as well as the housing market outlook too.

Obviously the hope is that the ceasefire becomes permanent and we can get back to ‘normality’. But there’s always the risk it doesn’t prove lasting and, even if it does, there’ll still be some economic dislocation in the near term as a rebuild process gets underway.

Overall, there now seems a fair chance that our pre-existing forecast that property sales volumes could rise from around 90,000 in 2025 to about 100,000 in 2026 may be starting to look a bit strong. In addition, rather than a modest gain of up to 5% this year, property values may now be closer to flat, or even slightly down again.

But whatever the final total for sales volumes proves to be, how could each of the main buyer groups shape up? All else equal, movers could see their market share rise a bit as the economy (hopefully) recovers, while it also wouldn’t be a surprise to see mortgaged MPOs tick along at around recent levels – they have some supports, but also a few headwinds, including weak rental growth, the political cycle (e.g. possibility of a capital gains tax), and debt to income ratio caps.

If movers do perk up a bit, it’s not totally out of the question that FHBs’ market share drops a little in the next 12-18 months (after a very strong run) – after all, market share must always add up to 100%. But in a bigger pie with potentially more sales taking place, there could still be a higher raw number of FHBs.