Selling Kāinga Ora properties

Improving our housing stock

Under our nationwide renewals programme, we expect to replace or significantly renovate around 2,000 ageing or unsuitable homes each year for the next few years.

We’re also planning to replace or renovate all homes built before 1986 within 30 years.

As part of this, we’re removing and redeveloping older homes on the same land. We’re also selling about 900 homes nationwide per year for the next few years - around 1% of our current portfolio.

Each home we sell is replaced by a newly built home elsewhere so we’re not reducing the number of homes we own. The size of our housing portfolio will stay at around 78,000 homes.

How we’re selling houses

Properties are being offered on the open market to ensure we get the best possible price.

• We appoint real estate agents through a robust procurement process. Interested buyers need to contact the real estate agent directly.
• We use independent current market valuations (CMVs) to inform our listing expectations.
• When a property sells for less than we expected, we weigh that against the overall return from all the properties we are selling.
• As at April 2026, on average, our homes are selling above current CMV nationwide.

Iwi considerations

If a property has a Right of First Refusal (RFR) on it, we’re legally required to offer it to the relevant iwi for current market valuation before listing it for sale:

• If iwi decline the offer, we can sell the property on the open market, but the terms can’t be more favourable than those offered to iwi under the RFR.
• If we later agree to sell the property to another buyer at a lower price or on more favourable terms than those originally offered, we must re‑offer the property to iwi on those same terms.

The homes we’re selling

We consider properties for sale based on age, location, value, and regional housing need.

For example:

• Older homes that no longer meet tenants’ needs, for example they are too far away from schools, employment and the other amenities.
• Homes in high-value areas, where selling one property can help fund multiple new homes in areas of greatest need.

While these properties may no longer work for social housing, they provide housing opportunities for other buyers and developers.

If tenants live in a home we plan to sell, we support them to move to another Kāinga Ora home that meets their needs.

Selling vacant land

We’re also selling vacant land that is surplus to requirements.

• Selling surplus land reduces ongoing costs, unlocks capital, and opens opportunities for others to make use of the land – allowing us to focus on delivering social housing for New Zealanders in need.
• We’re selling the surplus land in a different market from when it was purchased – and that can impact the price we get.
• When a site sells for less than we paid, we weigh that against the overall return from all the properties we are selling, the holding costs of the land, demand for social housing in the area and the benefits of creating opportunities for others to develop the site.
• As sites are confirmed for sale, they are generally listed on the open market through an appointed real estate agent. Where sites are subject to First Right of Refusal, iwi have the first opportunity to acquire them.

Kāinga Ora also sells build-ready land(external link) in its Large-Scale Projects to private developers to deliver market housing.

A routine approach

Selling homes or land is not new and has always been part of how Kāinga Ora manages our housing portfolio.

Like other property owners and developers, we regularly review our housing stock and sell properties that are no longer fit-for-purpose.