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An insider in the small business market is seeing a new wave of people opting for a side hustle.
Chris Small, managing director of ABC Business Sales, said demand was strong for online homeware businesses and work-from-home opportunities as workers search for income-generating activities alongside their main jobs.
With the SME market for the sale and purchase of small- and medium-sized businesses growing, part-time side hustles were seen as one part of the equation.
"We do see a lot of online businesses or working-from-home businesses selling, and selling well, because they suit people's lifestyles," Small said. "These are often popular when we take them to market.
"A recent one was an online business selling bedware and homeware. It was run by a single person and was generating a couple of hundred thousand dollars a year - and those businesses are very popular."
The country's largest SME broker said figures also pointed to a strong market across the board.
"Our latest industry figures show we're in a very buoyant market, with both purchasers and sellers actively looking to transact and complete business sales.
"In fact, completed business sale transactions are also up a significant 13 percent compared to the same time last year."
Childcare centres, aged care and manufacturing import distribution companies had also recently changed hands.
Sales data from the ABC Group showed the average price achieved for SME business sales across New Zealand continued to rise year on year - up another 6 percent in the last 12 months.
This price increase was combined with a three-year high on buyer enquiries - with signed confidentiality agreements up 50 percent from a year ago.
In May, new SME listings hit an annual peak of 97.
"We're in a slightly buoyant market which seems a strange thing to say given the backdrop, but that's what the numbers are telling us," Small said.
Chris Small. Photo: ABC Business Sales / Supplied
"People with spare capital are saying 'we don't want to invest in commercial property, we don't have any confidence in that or residential property', which is an area they used to invest in.
"They've realised the returns in business are still strong and the businesses in certain sectors are still going very well, and that's what they're jumping into."
Small said around 1000 to 1200 businesses were sold in New Zealand each year.
