News
Six months of the 70m² exemption: what Kiwis have actually built
Half a year after consent-free small dwellings became legal, the pattern is clear — smaller footprints, faster starts, and a lot of backyards quietly gaining a second home.
Granny flats and backyard homes.
A second small dwelling on land you already own — for family, for income, or for both.
The granny flat is quietly the most practical small-home option in the country: you already have the land, the services are close, and the rules have loosened.
Our coverage looks at what families are building, what it returns, and what councils expect.
News
You've Already Won the Hardest Part.
Build costs are high and builders are booked out — but none of that matters as much when you already own the land. Seven ways Kiwis are using sections they already have.
News
What could your backyard actually earn?
A calculator built on real NZ short-stay data across all 16 regions — monthly income, payoff time and the ten-year return on a pre-built expandable home.
News
Keeping Mum and Dad close: how the new rules are reshaping the Kiwi backyard
With residential aged care running into tens of thousands of dollars a year, more families are looking at a compact home in the backyard. The 2026 law change just made that far easier.
News
Trading Four Bedrooms for Thirty Square Metres: Why Retirees Are Going Tiny
For a generation sitting on a mortgage-free family home and a garden they can no longer manage, going small isn't a sacrifice. For many, it's the first genuinely free decision in decades.
News
Living Small, Together: Inside New Zealand's Tiny-Home Communities
Clusters of small homes sharing land, services and a vegetable garden solve tiny living's hardest problem. They also introduce a new one: you now have neighbours with opinions.
News
The Second Dwelling That Pays for Itself: Short-Stay Income, Realistically
A small home in the back garden earning short-stay income is one of the more attractive numbers in the sector. It's also a business, and the brochures tend to leave that part out.
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