Talking Property Development with John Kenel

About Talking Property Development with John Kenel

Straight talk on property, money, and getting ahead in New Zealand. John Kenel has spent over 20 years developing property and 27 years investing in it. More than 1,000 homes built. On this show he breaks down the property market, development, and money the way it actually works, not the way the system wants you to see it. No jargon. No fluff. No spin. Just real talk for tradies, investors, business owners, and everyday Kiwis who want more freedom and more control over their lives. If you've ever felt like the rules are stacked against ordinary people trying to get ahead, this is for you. New episodes regularly. Education only, not financial advice.

Publisher

John Kenel

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

2 May 2024

Latest episode

30 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

59 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   30 Sept 2026

   What NZ’s Largest Mortgage Broker Really Sees Happening in Property Right Now

   John Bolton is the founder of Squirrel, New Zealand’s largest mortgage broker doing around $3 billion in mortgages annually, and one of the country’s biggest non-bank construction lenders with $700–800 million deployed into development finance. In this episode, John Bolton sits down with John Kenel for a straight-up conversation about what is really happening in the New Zealand property market right now. They cover buyer confidence, yield, pre-sales, product mistakes, developer margins, down-sizers, and where the next opportunities may be setting up. What you’ll learn: - What Squirrel is seeing across $3 billion a year of mortgage activity - What $700–800 million in development finance says about the state of the market - Why buyer confidence is still uneven - Why yield now matters more than easy capital gains - The product mistakes developers keep making - Why storage matters more than many people realise - Why down-sizers are an overlooked opportunity - What is happening to margins on real projects - Why this painful part of the cycle may be clearing the way for the next one If you’re building, investing, developing, or trying to make smarter decisions in property, this conversation is full of practical insight. Sign up to my FREE monthly newsletter to improve your finances: https://johnkenel.com Get finance for your property development with Squirrel: https://funding.johnkenel.com Free guide to wills, trusts & passing down your wealth properly: https://wealth.thepropertydevelopmentclub.com/ Learn how to become a profitable developer in New Zealand at https://thepropertydevelopmentclub.com

2. 

   24 Sept 2026

   How A Council Could Halve Your Building's Value Overnight

   An election policy announced on Sunday would change how commercial leases work in New Zealand. Two parts. Rent reviews on leases already signed could go down, not just up. And if a CBD shop's been empty for more than a year, the council could give the landlord 8 weeks to find a tenant, then auction off a lease on the building. My area is residential, so I asked someone who works with commercial leases every day. My son Alex is a commercial broker at James Group Real Estate in Auckland. We go through what a ratchet clause actually is, why banks want one, how a commercial building gets valued, what happens to that value when the rent drops, what landlords would do on the next lease, and who actually turns up to a council lease auction. Then the honest bit: why shops really sit empty, and whether any of this fills them. Alex Kenel is an industrial property broker with James Group Real Estate, specialising in Penrose, Onehunga and Mt Wellington - the core of Auckland's industrial market. He works with owner-occupiers, landlords and tenants on leasing, sales and purchases, with a background in industrial valuation. If you're looking at industrial property in the area, or just want a straight read on rents, values and what's actually moving, get in touch: 📞 022 369 0406 ✉️ alexkenel@jamesgroup.co.nz 🔗 https://linkedin.com/in/alexkenel Sign up to my FREE monthly newsletter to improve your finances: https://johnkenel.com Get finance for your property development with Squirrel: https://funding.johnkenel.com Free guide to wills, trusts & passing down your wealth properly: https://wealth.thepropertydevelopmentclub.com/ Learn how to become a profitable developer in New Zealand at https://thepropertydevelopmentclub.com

3. 

   13 Sept 2026

   Why Socialism Suddenly Sounds Attractive (A Property Developer's Honest Take)

   More young New Zealanders are looking at the housing market and deciding the system's rigged. In plenty of ways, they're right. I've been building houses for over 20 years and I've benefited from the way things are, so I'm not here to tell anyone they're wrong to be angry.The question is whether the fix being offered actually fixes it, or makes the same system bigger. In this episode: why the anger is rational, what actually failed (and why "free market" is the wrong name for it), who a bigger state actually suits, the Vienna question, the developer question, the tax question, and one test you can run on any policy before you buy it. Sign up to my FREE monthly newsletter to improve your finances: https://johnkenel.com Get finance for your property development with Squirrel: https://funding.johnkenel.com Free guide to wills, trusts & passing down your wealth properly: https://wealth.thepropertydevelopmentclub.com/ Learn how to become a profitable developer in New Zealand at https://thepropertydevelopmentclub.com

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Spotify

4.8 / 5

14 ratings

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