‘Felt like I won Lotto’: Why one investor sold every rental to buy a $6.4m Invercargill office block

Sunday, 12 July 2026

Property investor Jonti Dimond and his partner

A former Christchurch tradie who became paraplegic after a motorcycle crash has sold every residential investment property he owned to buy a $6.4 million Invercargill office building.

His decision comes as early evidence suggests some investors are shifting from residential into commercial property, although analysts say it's far too early to call it a broader trend.

When Jonti Dimond settled on a $6.4 million office building in Invercargill this month, he says it felt 'like I won Lotto'.

The former Christchurch tradie has sold up the residential properties he owned, and instead invested in the commercial building.

The 34-year-old now lives in Sydney, and his move comes as early signs emerge that some property investors may be looking beyond housing and towards commercial property, although it's too soon to say if it’s the start of a wider trend.

Cotality data suggests investor purchases of residential property have dropped, while commercial buyers report more people switching residential investment to commercial property instead.

“So in the first, probably third of last year, we did $25 million in commercial property, and for the same period this year we’ve done $75 million,” says Dylan Menzies, acquisitions specialist at Rethink Investing NZ, a company which helps people buy commercial property.

Dimond is one of those making the shift. 'I'd definitely start with residential again if I was beginning from scratch,' he said. 'But I wouldn't go back to residential now.'

From first rental to fresh start

Dimond bought his first Christchurch rental at 18 after working through school holidays, initially hoping to save enough for a car.

By his early 20s he owned three modest Christchurch units before moving to Sydney, where he worked in construction.

“I was on $32 an hour and was able to turn over $180k with double time and overtime, working Easter and Christmas.”

With reduced capacity to work after his accident, Jonti Dimond (centre ) had to look outside the concrete business and find other ways to make money.

He then built a successful concrete pumping business and built up a property portfolio in Australia, his own waterfront owner‑occupier home, two houses co‑owned with his brother, and two rural blocks of four units each.

Then, just before turning 30, a motorcycle crash left him paraplegic.

Because he was unable to return to physically demanding work, he started looking much harder at whether his investments could replace his income.

'I realised I was paying the rates, insurance, maintenance, dealing with tenants (on his residential properties) … and after all that, the income just wasn't enough.'

So he sold his six residential properties, and bought a commercial building back home in New Zealand.

Why commercial appealed

The Invercargill building Dimond has just bought is about two-and-a-half years old and is anchored by the Ministry of Education and media company NZME, with another tenancy under offer.

Having a government department in Dimond’s Invercargill property gives good security of tenancy, but also means the building must be maintained to the highest standards. The office block is roughly 1,200m² of building on 2,000m² of land, and three tenancies on a single title.

“The purchase price was 6.4 million, so the mortgage is roughly about 200- 250k a year, and then the total rents are about 450k a year, so the yield is more than 7%.”

Dimond says replacing his income has become his goal as he continues his recovery, rather than capital gains.

A yield is how much annual income is earned on a property, as a percentage of the investment’s value.

Dimond is planning finance changes to lift the yield to 7.5%.

Dimond says there’s also less stress than residential property; 'you've got quality tenants, long leases and, in many cases, they're paying many of the outgoings.'

He said the higher cashflow was critical after his accident that saw him facing years of recovery and physio appointments; 'The goal wasn't really capital gains anymore. It was replacing my income.'

Dimond had originally looked at buying commercial in Australia. In the end, New Zealand’s tax settings tipped the balance.

“The main thing was stamp duty. When you’re purchasing a $5–6 million property, you’re paying about $300,000 stamp duty to the government. That’s a tax that you never sort of see again. New Zealand doesn’t have that.”

Investors in residential property drop back

Cotality's latest figures show residential investor activity has dropped; their share of the residential property market dropped 5.7% over the first five months of the year, and that’s even with a smaller number of sales happening overall.

“So the pool of sales has got smaller, and not only that, the share of that pool going to mortgaged multiple property owners has got a little bit smaller. So, yeah, there are, by whichever way you look at it, fewer (residential) investors buying at the moment,” Cotality chief property economist Kelvin Davidson says.

It’s probably too early to say if that will be a longer-term trend, though.

Some advisers do say they're seeing more investors switch to commercial.

“What we’re finding a lot of them are saying is that they’re investing in commercial because they don’t see the capital growth in the near future of residential, and so they’re converting over,” says Rethink’s Dylan Menzies.

“I mean, in commercial property, you’re going to get between a six to 8% net return.”

The average yield in residential is 4%, according to Cotality.

Menzies cautioned that some types of commercial property come with higher risk.

“That’s why we encourage people to start looking at commercial property at about 800,000 to a million plus (purchase price), so you’re talking around a $300,000 deposit.”

Usually, a 35% deposit is needed to get into commercial property.

When you need to move to Australia, should you rent out your existing home to avoid selling at a loss?

'If you haven't got much money, residential is probably still the easiest way to get started,' says Dimond.

For him, though, he says commercial better suits him for the next stage of life.

“When I really started crunching the numbers, I had to pinch myself multiple times. It sort of felt like I’d won Lotto and set up my family for potentially intergenerational wealth.”

He is semi‑retired at 34, focusing on rehab, his partner, and wheelchair basketball.

Tell us your story or question in the form below, or email Stuff chief property correspondent Janika ter Ellen: janika.terellen@stuffdigital.co.nz