New Zealand 2026 election: Property taxes, capital gains and getting onto the housing ladder

For you and your partner, the key question is whether changes to property taxes could make it easier to save a deposit and buy your first home—or whether they might affect house prices, rents, or your take-home pay in other ways.

The main distinction is between taxing property ownership, taxing profits when property is sold, and taxing other forms of wealth or income. These policies can have quite different effects on first-home buyers.

For example:

• A capital gains tax (CGT) could reduce the after-tax profits investors make when selling property, potentially changing the incentives to invest in housing.
• A broader land or property tax could increase the ongoing cost of holding property, potentially influencing property prices, rents and the types of homes investors buy.
• Changes to existing property tax rules, such as the rules for deducting rental expenses or taxing profits on property sales, could alter the relative tax treatment of landlords and owner-occupiers.
• Tax cuts or changes to income taxes could affect how quickly you can save a deposit, even if they do not directly change property prices.

The important caveat is that a policy's intended effect isn't necessarily its eventual outcome. House prices and rents also depend on housing supply, interest rates, construction costs, population growth and credit conditions.

1. Which parties propose property or capital gains tax changes?

As of 11 October 2026, the parties have announced several distinct approaches ahead of the general election on Saturday, 7 November 2026. The most relevant differences for aspiring homeowners are summarised below, using published party policies and current election coverage. kpmg.com, policy.nz

Labour: a 28% capital gains tax on investment property

Labour proposes a 28% tax on capital gains from residential investment properties and commercial property, excluding the family home.

Under its published proposal:

• The tax would apply to gains made after 1 July 2027.
• It would apply when the property is sold, rather than annually.
• The family home, farms, KiwiSaver, shares, business assets and inheritances would be exempt.
• Revenue would be ring-fenced for healthcare, including three free GP visits a year for every New Zealander. labour.org.nz

What this could mean for you: If the tax reduced the attractiveness of investment property relative to other investments, some investors might sell properties or buy fewer of them. That could reduce competition for existing homes and potentially improve first-home buyers' chances.

However, the effect on house prices is uncertain. Investors might change their buying behaviour, and some might continue investing because property remains attractive for rental income and long-term growth.

Labour argues that the tax would shift investment towards businesses and away from property speculation. That is the party's stated rationale, rather than a guaranteed outcome. labour.org.nz

Green Party: wealth taxes and tighter taxation of landlords

The Greens propose several changes rather than relying on a single property tax.

Their published policies include:

• A 2.5% annual tax on net wealth above $10 million, with the family home exempt.
• A tax on gifts and inheritances worth more than $1 million, excluding family homes and family farms.
• Reversing recent landlord tax cuts by restoring restrictions on interest deductibility for residential investment properties.
• Restoring the bright-line period to 10 years, reversing the recent reduction in the period during which certain property-sale profits are taxable. greens.org.nz, pwc.co.nz

The wealth tax would apply to people with substantial net assets, not to ordinary homeowners simply because their house has increased in value. The inheritance tax would affect qualifying transfers of wealth, subject to the proposed exemptions.

What this could mean for you: Tighter tax rules for landlords could make investment property less attractive compared with owner-occupied housing. In principle, that could reduce some investor competition when you bid for a home.

There is a potential trade-off, however. Landlords facing higher costs might reduce investment in rental properties or seek higher rents where the market allows. The actual effect would depend on rental supply, demand and how landlords respond.

The Greens also propose income tax changes. Those could affect your ability to save, depending on your earnings and the final legislation. Their stated aim is to reduce income tax for most people while increasing taxes on substantial wealth and high incomes. greens.org.nz, 1news.co.nz

The Opportunity Party: an annual land value tax

The Opportunity Party, formerly known as TOP, proposes a much broader change to how New Zealand taxes property and income.

Its Tax Reset includes:

• An annual land value tax of 1.75% on urban land, with a lower rate of 0.5% for rural land.
• A Citizen's Income of up to $370 a week for eligible adults.
• Changes to income tax rates and compulsory retirement saving.
• Exemptions and deferrals for some landowners, including provisions for farmers and retirees. opportunity.org.nz

A land value tax differs from a capital gains tax. It is charged on the value of the land each year, regardless of whether the owner sells it or makes a profit.

Opportunity argues that the tax would discourage land banking, encourage development and reduce house prices by 10–15%. That figure is the party's projection, not an independently guaranteed forecast. opportunity.org.nz

What this could mean for you: This proposal could affect you in two stages.

• While renting: The Citizen's Income could increase the money available to eligible households, potentially helping you save a deposit faster. However, the size of the benefit would depend on your incomes, the final policy and any changes to your other entitlements.
• When buying: If the tax reduced land prices, the upfront cost of buying a home could fall. But once you owned a property, you would also face an ongoing land tax.

That second point matters. A cheaper house is not necessarily cheaper to own over the long term if it comes with a substantial annual tax bill. You would need to compare the purchase price, mortgage payments and ongoing tax together.

Opportunity's proposal is particularly relevant to renters saving for a deposit because it combines a change to property taxation with direct changes to household income.

Te Pāti Māori: taxes targeting land banking and residential property sales

Te Pāti Māori proposes several measures targeting property speculation and underused housing.

Its published tax proposals include:

• A 33% land banking tax.
• A 2% vacant house tax.
• A 5% stamp duty on residential property sales, with an exemption for first-home buyers purchasing homes under $1 million. pwc.co.nz

These proposals differ from Labour's capital gains tax. Rather than focusing solely on profits when an investment property is sold, they target land holding, vacant properties and property transactions.

What this could mean for you: If you qualify for the proposed first-home-buyer exemption, you would not pay the stamp duty on a qualifying purchase below $1 million. That could reduce the upfront cost of buying.

The land banking and vacant-house taxes are intended to discourage owners from sitting on developable land or leaving homes empty. If they encouraged more land and housing to be brought into use, that could help ease supply constraints.

The effect would depend on the precise definitions, exemptions and implementation. The stamp duty could also affect other buyers and sellers, potentially influencing transaction prices and decisions about when to move.

Te Pāti Māori also proposes expanding public and affordable housing and taking action against speculation. Those housing measures could matter to buyers independently of its tax proposals. maoriparty.org.nz

National: no new taxes

National has pledged not to introduce new taxes if re-elected. Its election platform emphasises keeping taxes low rather than introducing a new capital gains tax or a broad land tax. National Party

National has also announced a measure to expand access to 5% deposits through the First Home Loan scheme. National Party

What this could mean for you: National's approach avoids the new property-tax liabilities proposed by some other parties. Depending on your circumstances, its first-home loan policy could also help reduce the deposit you need to save.

However, avoiding new property taxes does not necessarily mean house prices will be lower. That depends on other policies affecting housing supply, demand, construction and lending.

ACT: no new taxes and a change to KiwiSaver taxation

ACT has also pledged no new taxes. In October 2026, it announced a proposal to remove tax on KiwiSaver investment earnings. ACT

What this could mean for you: If you have KiwiSaver, removing tax on its investment earnings could increase the amount retained in your account over time, depending on the final policy and your investment returns.

That could help your longer-term savings, although the effect on your first-home deposit would depend on how much you have saved and the rules governing withdrawals.

ACT's no-new-taxes position also means it is not proposing a new broad capital gains tax or land value tax as part of its current election approach.

New Zealand First: targeted tax changes rather than a broad property tax

New Zealand First has emphasised targeted tax relief, including a proposed tax-free income threshold for the first $14,000 earned.

It has opposed a comprehensive capital gains tax and a broad wealth tax in its responses to an election tax-policy survey. Public Health Communication Centre

What this could mean for you: If the proposed income-tax changes increased your take-home pay, you could have more money available for your deposit. The actual benefit would depend on the final tax rules and your incomes.

Unlike a land tax or capital gains tax, an income-tax threshold does not directly change the tax treatment of property ownership or property-sale profits.

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2. How could these policies affect your deposit and the price of your first home?

For a couple renting and saving from employment income, I would separate the potential effects into four areas.

A. The price you need to pay

This is probably the biggest issue if you feel that the deposit target keeps moving.

Suppose a home costs $700,000. A 20% deposit would be $140,000.

If the same home later costs $770,000, a 20% deposit would be $154,000.

That is a $14,000 increase in the required deposit, even if your household savings have not changed.

This is why a policy that successfully moderates house prices could help first-home buyers: it could reduce both the purchase price and the deposit needed for a given deposit percentage.

The parties' approaches differ:

• Labour: Seeks to change the incentives for investment-property ownership through capital gains taxation.
• Greens: Seek to change landlord tax settings and tax substantial wealth.
• Opportunity: Seeks to reduce land values through an annual land tax.
• Te Pāti Māori: Seeks to discourage land banking and vacant housing and exempt qualifying first-home buyers from its proposed stamp duty.
• National and ACT: Oppose new taxes and emphasise other approaches to economic and housing policy.

These are different mechanisms, and none guarantees that house prices will fall.

B. How quickly you can save

Your deposit depends on how much you can put aside each payday.

Consider a purely illustrative example:

Household savings	Annual amount
Combined take-home pay	$120,000
Rent and other living expenses	$96,000
Available for savings	$24,000
Savings after three years, ignoring interest	$72,000

If your savings capacity increased by $200 a month, you would accumulate an additional $2,400 a year.

That is useful, but if house prices and the deposit requirement increase faster than your savings, you may still struggle to catch up.

This is where income-tax policies, direct payments and the Opportunity Party's proposed Citizen's Income could matter. Their effects on your household would depend on your earnings, eligibility and the final policy details.

C. Whether you are competing against investors

Investors and first-home buyers can compete for similar properties.

If a tax change reduces the financial attractiveness of owning investment property, some investors may buy fewer homes or sell existing ones. That could give owner-occupiers a better chance of buying.

However, the size of this effect is uncertain.

A capital gains tax does not automatically cause investors to sell. An investor may still find a property attractive because of its rental income, expected price growth or other financial benefits.

Similarly, an annual land tax could encourage some owners to sell or develop land, but the result would depend on how the tax affects property prices, rents, financing and new construction.

D. Whether renting becomes more expensive

This is the risk worth considering alongside potential house-price benefits.

Landlords might respond to higher taxes by:

• Accepting lower returns.
• Selling their investment properties.
• Buying fewer rental properties.
• Seeking higher rents where demand and market conditions allow.

These outcomes are not interchangeable. If a tax reduces the number of available rental homes without a corresponding increase in housing supply, renters could face greater pressure.

Conversely, if a policy encourages more housing to be built and makes more homes available, it could help ease rental pressure over time.

The practical question is not simply whether a party proposes higher or lower taxes. It is how its tax policy might affect both the price of buying a home and the cost of renting while you save.

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3. A side-by-side comparison

Here is a simplified comparison focused on your circumstances.

Party	Main relevant tax proposal	Potential benefit for first-home buyers	Main consideration
Labour	28% capital gains tax on investment and commercial property	Could reduce some investor demand	The effect on house prices and rents is uncertain
Greens	Wealth tax above $10 million, inheritance tax and tighter landlord tax settings	Could reduce some incentives to hold investment property	Rental-market effects and the details of implementation matter
Opportunity	Annual land value tax, combined with a Citizen's Income	Potentially lower land prices and more income available to eligible renters	Owners would face an ongoing land tax
Te Pāti Māori	Land banking tax, vacant house tax and proposed stamp duty with a first-home-buyer exemption	The exemption could reduce upfront purchase costs for eligible buyers	The effects of the other taxes depend on implementation and market responses
National	No-new-taxes pledge	Avoids new property-tax liabilities; also proposes greater access to 5% deposits through the First Home Loan scheme	Does not guarantee lower house prices
ACT	No-new-taxes pledge; proposed removal of tax on KiwiSaver investment earnings	Could improve the accumulation of KiwiSaver savings over time	The effect on your deposit depends on your circumstances and the final policy
New Zealand First	Targeted income-tax relief, including a proposed $14,000 tax-free threshold	Could increase take-home pay for eligible earners	Does not directly target property prices

Sources: Labour's capital gains tax policy, Greens' tax policy, Opportunity's Tax Reset, PwC's 2026 election tax update, National's tax policy and ACT's KiwiSaver tax announcement.

These are announced policies, not a guarantee that every measure would become law. Under New Zealand's MMP system, the composition of the next government and any coalition agreements will also matter.

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4. What should you look at before deciding how to vote?

Given your situation, I would examine five questions for each party.

1. What happens to the price of a typical first home? Look for credible analysis of how the party expects its policies to affect purchase prices, rather than relying only on campaign promises.

2. What happens to your take-home pay? Tax changes can affect your deposit savings even when they do not directly affect housing.

3. What happens to rent? You need to be able to keep saving while you wait to buy. A policy that might lower house prices eventually could still have different short-term effects on the rental market.

4. What happens to the deposit requirement? A lower house price, a smaller permitted deposit and a larger savings balance are three different routes into homeownership. Look at which policies address each one.

5. How quickly could the policy take effect? Your position could be different if a measure begins next year rather than gradually over several years.

It is also worth separating property-tax policy from housing-supply policy. Planning rules, infrastructure funding, construction costs and the availability of new homes can influence affordability regardless of how investment property is taxed.

My overall takeaway

For you and your partner, the central distinction is between policies that aim to change house prices and those that aim to increase the money you have available to buy.

• Labour and the Greens focus partly on changing the tax incentives associated with investment property.
• Opportunity proposes a more fundamental shift towards taxing land, alongside a Citizen's Income.
• Te Pāti Māori proposes taxes targeting land banking and vacant housing, as well as a first-home-buyer stamp-duty exemption.
• National and ACT oppose new taxes and emphasise alternative approaches, while New Zealand First focuses on targeted tax relief.

The important question is how these measures would work together in practice. A lower purchase price might make a deposit more achievable, but a higher annual ownership cost could offset some of that benefit. Similarly, more take-home pay could help you save, but it would not necessarily solve the problem if house prices rose faster.

I would pay particular attention to the combined effect on purchase prices, rents, your household's savings capacity and the ongoing cost of owning a home—not just whether a party supports or opposes a capital gains tax.

That gives you a more useful basis for comparing the parties' proposals against your actual goal: buying a home without having to chase a continually moving deposit target.