Is Your Home Making You Sick?
New Zealand homes are beautiful—but many of them are making us sicker than we think. Thanks to our unique climate, building materials, and the well-known leaky building epidemic, thousands of Kiwis are unknowingly exposed to toxic mould and mycotoxins every day.
These aren’t just musty smells or black spots on your ceiling. Mycotoxins are microscopic toxins released by moulds—invisible saboteurs that attack your immune system, brain, gut, and lungs.
Here Are The Facts
🦠 Prevalence of Mould
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🔍 Approximately 49% of homes had visible mould.
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📉 56% of rental properties affected vs. 44% of owner-occupied homes.
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📄 In 2018, 4% of households reported always having mould larger than an A4 sheet, and 11% reported sometimes having such mould.
💧 Dampness in Homes
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🏠 Over 318,000 homes (21.5%) were reported as damp in 2018.
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🌧️ 3% always damp, 18.5% sometimes damp.
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🔁 Rental homes were about 7× more likely to be always damp compared to owner-occupied homes.
📍 Regional Variations
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🌿 Northland had the highest proportion of mouldy households at 20%, followed by Auckland at 19%.
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🏙️ In Auckland alone, 24,765 homes always had mould over A4 size.
🏚️ Impact on Renters
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👥 Renters were twice as likely to report mould (21%) compared to homeowners (11%).
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🛏️ Nearly 30% of rental bedrooms had visible mould vs. 18% in owner-occupied homes.
🔥 Heating and Mould Correlation
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🪑 Homes using portable gas heaters had the highest proportion of mould issues at 29%.
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❄️ Homes with heat pumps or fixed gas heaters had lower mould levels, under 15%.
🫁 Health Implications
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🚨 Living in damp or mouldy homes increases the risk of asthma by up to 30%.
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🤧 Also linked to respiratory issues and other health problems.
🌏 Ethnic Disparities
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👣 40.3% of Māori and 45.9% of Pacific peoples lived in damp homes.
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📄 33% (Māori) and 41.8% (Pacific peoples) lived in homes with mould larger than an A4 sheet.
🚨 The Real Human Cost: How Mould Makes You Sick
Toxic mould exposure isn’t just a nuisance—it’s a silent disruptor of your entire body. Mycotoxins can hijack your immune system, nervous system, and even your hormone balance, leading to a domino effect of strange and persistent symptoms that standard medicine often overlooks.
Here’s how it can show up in real life:
🧠 Your Brain on Mycotoxins
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Ever feel like your thoughts are swimming in fog?
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Struggling to concentrate at work or forgetting words mid-sentence?
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Feeling “disconnected” or like your emotions are swinging wildly?
Mould toxins can cross the blood-brain barrier, leading to neuroinflammation, poor memory, emotional instability, and even signs that mimic early neurodegenerative diseases. Many patients are misdiagnosed with anxiety, ADHD, or depression—when the real problem is environmental.
😮💨 Breathless Without a Cause?
If you’re waking up congested, dealing with constant sinus infections, or feeling like your lungs just aren’t what they used to be—even without smoking or asthma—you’re not imagining things. Mould spores irritate the respiratory tract, often triggering:
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Chronic sinusitis
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Shortness of breath
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A dry, tickly cough
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Wheezing or chest tightness
This is especially dangerous for children, the elderly, and anyone with compromised immunity.
🧬 Your Immune System in Overdrive—or Shutdown
Mycotoxins confuse your immune system, sometimes sending it into overdrive (causing autoimmune flare-ups), or the opposite—leaving you defenseless.
You might find that:
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You catch every cold going around
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You’re constantly on antibiotics
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Your body takes weeks to recover from mild illness
This constant immune strain can trigger or worsen conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, eczema, or even thyroid disorders.
😖 Unseen Toxins, Visible on Your Skin
Your skin is a detox organ—and when your liver is overwhelmed by mould toxins, it shows:
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Persistent rashes or hives
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Itchy, inflamed, or peeling skin
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Breakouts that don’t respond to treatment
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Sudden skin sensitivity to products you’ve used for years
These skin issues are often treated as allergies or eczema without identifying the toxic root cause.
🌪️ Mental Health Meltdowns
Mood changes caused by mould aren’t “in your head”—they’re in your environment. Mycotoxins disrupt neurotransmitter balance, particularly dopamine and serotonin. The result?
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Anxiety without a trigger
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Depression that doesn’t respond to usual treatments
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Sleep disturbances or vivid nightmares
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Irritability or uncharacteristic emotional outbursts
If you’ve ever thought, “This doesn’t feel like me anymore,” mould exposure could be behind that shift.
🧍♂️ Whole-Body Breakdown
Finally, one of the most frustrating aspects:
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You look fine—but you don’t feel fine.
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Doctors run tests and say, “Everything’s normal.”
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You’ve tried eating better, exercising, even changing supplements, but nothing sticks.
That’s because mould exposure isn’t just a toxin—it’s a body-wide disruptor. It affects your brain, gut, immune system, hormones, and energy—all at once.
