The OCR is not the bank rate.
Our floating-rate facilities don't move one-for-one with the OCR. Here's why, and what that actually means for the realised yield on your distribution.
Notes from the desk
New Zealand property lending, thinking aloud.
Short pieces by the people writing the loans. Underwriting notes, the odd market view, occasional arguments with ourselves. Published when there's something worth saying. Not on a schedule.
01 — Index
Insights, by topic.
Rates, the OCR and funding costs
Why a headline cash-rate move doesn't pass straight through to a property loan — or to the realised yield on a distribution.
Underwriting and deal structure
How a facility actually gets credit-approved — sponsor first, then site, security, pre-sales and the exit. Where bank lending stops and private credit begins.
Why we underwrite the sponsor before we look at the site.
Three things we test for before we ever order a valuation. The first is whether they've actually finished something. The second is whether their last project paid back the people who funded it. The third is what they say about their QS when they think the meeting is over.
Residual stock is the cleanest deal in our book.
A bit counter-intuitive: finished, untenanted apartments — the asset class that most private credit funds avoid — are the most under-priced risk we see in NZ property credit right now.
How to read a QS report.
The quantity surveyor's report is the most important document in our credit file. Most people skim the cost-to-complete and the contingency. We read it back-to-front, starting with the prelims.
Pre-sales aren't pre-sales.
A qualifying pre-sale has to clear five tests. Two of them are about the buyer, three are about the contract. We've walked away from facilities where the headline pre-sale number was 70% — and the qualifying number was 18%.
The two facilities we resolved by enforcement.
No manager wants to write this piece. Both loans returned investor capital in full. Both reasons we ended up enforcing were visible at origination, looking back. We rewrote the credit policy after the second one.
Investor structures and capital
Feeders, jurisdictions, currency and governance — what wholesale and sophisticated investors ask before they allocate to NZ property credit.
What a Cayman feeder actually does.
For US, Singapore and Hong Kong investors looking at their first NZ-domiciled credit fund: a short walk-through of why the feeder exists, what it costs you, and what it actually does for your tax position.
ASIC's private credit report, read by a private credit manager.
Six things ASIC asked the market to do better. Five we were already doing. One we changed the week the report came out.
The case for a NZD allocation in 2026.
For Australian and Singaporean wholesale investors with hedged exposure to AU credit and USD private debt: a short argument for a 3–7% NZD allocation, written before the FX cycle moved.
02 — Investor letter
A short note from the desk, once a month.
One email a month, written by the desk — for wholesale investors and qualified prospects who actually read it. Not gated behind a form.
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