National accounts (income, saving, assets, and liabilities): March 2026 quarter data collection

1. Introduction National accounts (income, saving, assets, and liabilities) for New Zealand was published for the first time in June 2021; the data is updated each quarter, and timeseries are available from June 2016 quarter onwards. The series in these accounts are in current (nominal) price, in both actual and seasonally adjusted terms. The National accounts (income, saving, assets, and liabilities): Sources and methods are thoroughly documented. The data used to compile our estimates of quarterly income, saving, assets, and liabilities are the best that we have available at that point in time. When compiling our quarterly estimates, we usually face trade-offs between timeliness and the quality, coverage, length of historical series, and conceptual alignment of available data sources. As a result, the methodologies vary depending on the data available and are underpinned by certain assumptions. These statistics are experimental and may be subject to greater change than other releases as we improve methodology or include more comprehensive data. Part of the rationale for releasing estimates on an experimental basis is to allow users an opportunity to comment on methods and details of published series. If you have any feedback or comments that you’d like to pass on, or for more information on changes, email [email protected]. The quarterly income measure of gross domestic product (GDPI), along with total economy compensation of employees, gross operating surplus and gross mixed income, taxes on production and imports, and subsidies became official in the December 2023 quarter and were most recently published in Gross domestic product: March 2026 quarter on 18 June 2026. Income by institutional sector and saving, assets and liabilities measures will remain experimental and continue to be published shortly after the quarterly GDP release. 2.Data Collection and Methodology changes 2.1 Source data updates 2.1.1 Updates from Gross Domestic Product (GDP) series GDP estimates are reflected in National accounts (income, saving, assets, and liabilities) where the same series are used in both publications. In this release there are data updates flowing through from GDP to the following series in the consolidated accounts and institutional sector accounts: Final Consumption Expenditure Gross fixed capital formation Change in inventories Compensation of employees Gross operating surplus, gross mixed income, entrepreneurial income, and entrepreneurial withdrawals See Gross Domestic Product: March 2026 quarter – changes and data updates for further information. 2.1.2 Updates from Balance of Payments (BOP) and International Investment Position (IIP) The Rest of World sector is subject to updates in all accounts each quarter due to BOP and IIP updates. These changes are due mainly to respondents updating their previously reported data, which affects the most recent previously published quarter. In addition, changes to methods used in compiling BOP and IIP are introduced once each year, in the June quarter BOP and IIP release. These can affect quarterly data over several years, and result in updates in the June quarter releases of National accounts (income, saving, assets, and liabilities). All accounts in the Rest of World sector can be updated according to changes in BOP and IIP, and those updates may result in changes to resident sectors that are estimated from the counterparty dimension of BOP and IIP data. Series affected by updates from BOP include all series in the Rest of World sector, and include the following series for other sectors: Interest Dividends Reinvested earnings on direct investment Investment income payable to and receivable from the rest of the world Non-life insurance claims and premiums Miscellaneous current transfers Debt securities, with flow on impacts to equity. See Balance of payments and international investment position: March 2026 quarter for further information. 2.1.3 Updates to land Quarterly estimates of non-produced non-financial assets (land) are derived by using annual land estimates from Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) property values by property type, quarterly Cotality residential property estimates for recent quarters, and movements in the Cotality House Price Index (HPI) in latest quarters when residential property estimates are not yet available. The HPI estimates for the most recent two quarters are updated as Cotality collects more data on housing and land transactions. Thus, given the total value of housing and land in New Zealand (over one trillion dollars), it is expected that updated HPI values may contribute to substantial changes in some sectors. This is particularly the case for the non-financial business enterprises sector (which contains most of the residential property operators) and the household sector. In quarters after the latest annual balance sheet benchmarks, property values are used as a control total for each sector, then estimates for non-financial assets such as buildings and land improvements are deducted, to derive land estimates as a residual. 2.2 Methodology changes There are no methodology changes this quarter. 3 Changes to previously published statistics 3.1 Changes to Income and Outlay statistics 3.1.1 Changes to household saving Household saving is the residual of disposable income and expenditure. Therefore, changes occur due to updates to any of the associated contributing series. Changes to entrepreneurial income was the main contributor to the change in household saving in the December 2025 quarter. The other largest change was to the March 2025 quarter due to changes in dividends receivable and entrepreneurial income. The following table shows the previously published and updated quarterly household saving from the June 2016–December 2025 quarters. Table 1. Household saving ($million) in current prices, actual values (not seasonally adjusted) Quarter Published April 2026 Published July 2026 Change in value Jun-16 -782 -785 -3 Sep-16 -986 -983 3 Dec-16 -1,613 -1,614 -1 Mar-17 1,045 1,045 0 Jun-17 -1,690 -1,685 5 Sep-17 -1,095 -1,096 -1 Dec-17 -1,145 -1,148 -3 Mar-18 1,078 1,078 0 Jun-18 -922 -924 -2 Sep-18 -808 -812 -4 Dec-18 -1,246 -1,249 -3 Mar-19 1,143 1,152 9 Jun-19 -146 -141 5 Sep-19 577 563 -14 Dec-19 -434 -432 2 Mar-20 2,327 2,333 6 Jun-20 6,343 6,340 -3 Sep-20 2,818 2,814 -4 Dec-20 1,784 1,791 7 Mar-21 4,016 4,017 1 Jun-21 -173 -174 -1 Sep-21 3,704 3,702 -2 Dec-21 414 412 -2 Mar-22 1,192 1,198 6 Jun-22 -884 -898 -14 Sep-22 -818 -827 -9 Dec-22 -3,364 -3,339 25 Mar-23 259 257 -2 Jun-23 -334 -341 -7 Sep-23 -96 -103 -7 Dec-23 -1,944 -1,946 -2 Mar-24 4,803 4,819 16 Jun-24 504 522 18 Sep-24 283 255 -28 Dec-24 -961 -941 20 Mar-25 3,806 4,001 195 Jun-25 1,694 1,683 -11 Sep-25 -67 55 122 Dec-25 -827 -542 285 3.2. Changes to Balance Sheet statistics 3.2.1 Changes to household net worth Changes to household net worth in the December 2025 quarter are substantially larger than earlier quarters. The main component for this is the change in household equity assets. The household sector is the balancing sector for equity assets, thus changes in any other sectors equity liabilities can result in changes to final equity assets to the household sector to balance. The other component is the change in non-financial assets. As noted above, in the section 2.1.3 Updates to land, the previous quarter HPI estimates used as an indicator have been revised from the initial provisional estimate, which causes the changes in non-financial assets. The following table shows the previously published and updated quarterly household net worth for the June 2016–December 2025 quarters. Table 2. Household net worth ($million) in current prices, actual values (not seasonally adjusted) Quarter Published April 2026 Published July 2026 Change in value Jun-16 1,438,862 1,438,862 0 Sep-16 1,490,350 1,490,350 0 Dec-16 1,512,570 1,512,570 0 Mar-17 1,536,371 1,536,371 0 Jun-17 1,569,350 1,569,350 0 Sep-17 1,601,564 1,601,564 0 Dec-17 1,633,273 1,633,273 0 Mar-18 1,654,005 1,654,005 0 Jun-18 1,663,143 1,663,143 0 Sep-18 1,686,619 1,686,619 0 Dec-18 1,698,691 1,698,691 0 Mar-19 1,725,678 1,725,678 0 Jun-19 1,714,292 1,714,292 0 Sep-19 1,736,815 1,736,815 0 Dec-19 1,776,515 1,776,515 0 Mar-20 1,805,528 1,805,528 0 Jun-20 1,826,413 1,826,413 0 Sep-20 1,896,804 1,896,805 1 Dec-20 2,021,097 2,021,097 0 Mar-21 2,140,795 2,140,795 0 Jun-21 2,226,230 2,226,230 0 Sep-21 2,333,701 2,333,701 0 Dec-21 2,475,892 2,475,891 -1 Mar-22 2,473,672 2,473,672 0 Jun-22 2,414,858 2,414,860 2 Sep-22 2,385,908 2,385,912 4 Dec-22 2,429,165 2,429,172 7 Mar-23 2,432,616 2,432,616 0 Jun-23 2,431,386 2,431,384 -2 Sep-23 2,469,362 2,469,357 -5 Dec-23 2,494,882 2,494,877 -5 Mar-24 2,524,625 2,524,625 0 Jun-24 2,498,406 2,498,415 9 Sep-24 2,513,182 2,513,184 2 Dec-24 2,541,793 2,541,823 30 Mar-25 2,546,858 2,546,931 73 Jun-25 2,545,830 2,545,820 -10 Sep-25 2,563,669 2,563,801 132 Dec-25 2,579,499 2,584,124 4,625 en-NZ