New Zealand perspective. Global understanding.
HCNZ was founded on a simple observation: the people best placed to help global investors establish a genuine foothold in New Zealand are those who have spent their careers earning the trust of exactly those clients — and building the networks to serve them.
Who We Are
David Hiatt is the principal consultant and founder of HCNZ. A fifth generation New Zealander based in Christchurch on the South Island, David brings over twenty years of experience working with high and ultra-high-net-worth global clients across tourism, luxury travel, and complex consultancy.
That career was built on discretion, on relationships, and on an intimate knowledge of New Zealand— its people, its regions, its professional networks, and its possibilities. Working with some of the world's leading organisations and most discerning travellers, David developed the kind of trust that is earned through consistent, careful, high-stakes work over a long period of time.
Outside of work, David is happiest in the outdoors — in the mountains and rivers of the South Island, which means he understands instinctively what draws people to New Zealand and what keeps them coming back. He is a family man and community minded, with a genuine stake in the places and people that make this country what it is.
Why HCNZ Exists
Over the course of that career, a pattern became clear. The global visitors arriving at New Zealand's finest lodges and most remote destinations were not just travellers. Many were quietly looking for something more permanent — a place to return to, a property to secure, a future anchor in one of the world's most stable and naturally beautiful countries. The demand was real, the desire was genuine, but the pathway was complex and the right local partner was hard to find.
HCNZ was established to fill that gap. To take the networks, the relationships, and the on-the-ground knowledge built over two decades, and direct them toward helping global investors and their families establish a genuine, well-considered presence in New Zealand — on the right terms, with the right support, and with someone they can trust at every stage.
Track Record
David has advised on strategic rural land, lifestyle blocks, vacation and farming investments, luxury leisure travel, and business opportunities across New Zealand. He has facilitated introductions to both on and off-market properties through leading agencies nationwide, recruited key personnel for projects and longer-term management positions, and worked with offshore residents on the ongoing management of their New Zealand assets. His experience spans the full range of what establishing and maintaining a genuine New Zealand presence requires.
David served as a primary contractor in New Zealand for a global organisation with market cap exceeding USD$3T — overseeing domestic logistics, transportation, procurement, property management, and key introductions at the highest level. That engagement demanded the kind of discretion, reliability, and problem-solving under pressure that now underpins everything he offers his clients.
He has served as a government appointee to a New Zealand advisory group working with agencies on policy development affecting business in New Zealand, advising ministers on significant issues facing the sector. It is a background that reflects both the breadth of his New Zealand networks and his standing within them.
How We Work
David is directly involved in every engagement, and every client has direct access to him throughout. A career built on solving complex problems for discerning clients has instilled an instinct for anticipation — identifying what might be needed before it becomes urgent, and having contingencies in place that the client never needs to know about. The experience is seamless because the work behind it rarely is.
We work with a small number of clients at any one time. This is not a limitation — it is a commitment. The attention this work requires cannot be divided too many ways and remain what it is.
We are based in Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island — one hour and twenty minutes from Auckland, sixty minutes from Queenstown. We have a South Island bias but operate New Zealand wide.
A Larger Purpose
New Zealand is a small trading nation at the bottom of the planet — extraordinary in its landscape, its stability, and its people, but reliant on its connections to the wider world to sustain and grow its opportunities. We believe that attracting and retaining global capital, relationships, and goodwill is not just good for individual investors — it is good for New Zealand.
HCNZ exists in part to further that cause. Every client we help to establish a genuine, lasting connection with this country is another thread in a longer story — one about what New Zealand can be for the world, and what the world can bring to New Zealand. It is a small contribution, but it is one we make with conviction.