Most New Zealanders now buy second-hand. Trade Me’s sixth annual Circular Economy report, released in March 2025, found a record 89% of Kiwi had bought something pre-loved in the previous six months, up two points on the year before.

Marlborough and Southland led the country, with 97% of people in both regions buying a pre-loved item in that six-month window.

Price is still the main reason. Of the 4,000-plus people Trade Me surveyed, 71% said they bought second-hand to save money, 25% to be more environmentally friendly and 17% to buy quality. Sally Feinson, Trade Me Marketplace spokesperson, said “more than half (54%) have home and living items they are looking to offload”.

Designers are buying old again

The design trade has moved the same way. 1stDibs, a New York online marketplace for vintage and antique design, surveyed 468 design professionals worldwide for its ninth annual Interior Designer Trends Survey, released on 17 November 2025.

On average, 36% of the items those designers sourced for a project in 2025 were vintage or antique, the highest share since 2021. The share using pre-1920s antiques rose from 56% in 2024 to 63%, and chocolate brown was the top trending colour, picked by 33% of respondents.

Anthony Barzilay Freund, editorial director at 1stDibs, said in the release that designers were “looking back to vintage and antique furniture for inspiration and quality craftsmanship.”

The look picked up a name in 2019. US design writer Emma Bazilian coined “grandmillennial” in a House Beautiful article that year, according to her publisher’s description of Charm School, the book she later wrote with Stephanie Diaz for the fabric house Schumacher. The book gives a whole chapter to vintage and antiques.

Closer to home, Auckland auction house Webb’s launched The Estate in May 2022, a fortnightly online sale of mid-century furniture, antiques and vintage pieces. The first

catalogue had 432 lots and a team of three, and the sale reached its 100th auction in June 2026.

Webb’s says the sale was founded on “saving quality craft from landfill and preserving design heritage”. A pair of Hans J. Wegner Flag Halyard chairs sold through it for $23,900 including buyer’s premium. “A mid-century chair needs no sustainability disclaimer; it endures because it was made to last,” Webb’s wrote when it marked the milestone.

Te Papa’s collection shows what local cabinetmakers did with native timber. It holds a writing bureau made in Auckland around 1875 by cabinetmaker Anton Seuffert, inlaid mainly in kauri, pūriri and rewarewa.

What to check before you buy

Members of the Australian Antique and Art Dealers Association gave ArchiPro a buyer’s checklist in 2023, and most of it works just as well on a Trade Me listing or an op shop floor.

Start with the drawers. “Look for dovetail motifs and tenon joints; the finer the dovetails the more skilled the cabinet maker,” said Sharon Virtanen, co-owner of Virtanen Antiques. She added that solid timber backs and drawer linings are another good sign, and that early pieces have thicker veneers than later machined ones.

Check the materials match the claimed age. Danielle Rusko, owner of The Find Antiques, said plywood lining in a supposed 18th-century commode points to a later reproduction, because plywood only came into furniture around the 1850s.

Kent Virtanen, her fellow co-owner, said “Water damage that has led to warping and the lifting of veneers is a bad sign” if you’re planning a restoration.

Turn the piece over and look for borer. Kiwicare, a New Zealand pest control brand, says common borer leaves flight holes of 1 to 3mm, usually on the undersides, insides and backs of furniture, with small piles of wood dust that fall out as beetles exit. It says emergence in New Zealand tends to run from October to March.

Test painted pieces before you sand them. Consumer NZ says “Furniture, including cots, that was made or repainted before 1970 might also be painted with lead-based paint.” Resene sells lead test kits through its ColorShops, and Consumer NZ says wet sanding is the safest way to remove lead paint.