After posting a shocker one per cent reverse in the June quarter - revised up from 0.9 per cent in fresh figures from Stats NZ on Thursday - the September quarter gains have cancelled out those losses.
Manufacturing and business services led the charge, with exports up by 3.3 per cent including bumper growth in tourism and dairy.
It's been a lumpy year for the Kiwi economy, which has now grown by more than one per cent in two of the last five quarters, and shrunk by one per cent or more in another two.
The net effect is -0.5 per cent growth for the past year, reflecting New Zealand's challenging pathway out of the post-pandemic doldrums.
The June quarter slump was attributed to US President Donald Trump's approach to trade, with global uncertainty surrounding the implementation of tariffs.
The quarterly result was a tonic for Prime Minister Chris Luxon, who said "going for growth is without a doubt priority number one" at the start of the year.
Mr Luxon championed Thursday's figures on social media, saying it meant "more jobs, higher wages and more opportunity for Kiwis".
That doesn't quite square with the current reality, with unemployment up to 5.3 per cent - a nine-year high - and wage growth running at 2.1 per cent, behind headline inflation at three per cent.
Buoyed by forecasts showing an uptick in 2026, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said "this is what healthy growth looks like".
"With all the indicators pointing to further growth in the final quarter of the year, Kiwis can go into Christmas confident the economy has finally turned the corner after a tough few years," she said.
The Kiwi economy will certainly benefit from stimulatory monetary policy.
Recent woes have led to a series of rate cuts, with the Reserve Bank taking the official cash rate from 5.5 per cent last August to 2.25 per cent.
An ANZ note said "today's GDP data will give the RBNZ confidence that the economy is turning upwards, but the RBNZ has been careful not to put too much weight on a single GDP print, given volatility".
The economy, and cost of living, is the central issue in Kiwi politics and likely to define whether Mr Luxon's coalition government gets a second term.
Across 2025, Mr Luxon's National has sunk in the polls, with Labour leapfrogging it to be the most popular party.
The latest poll, published by Wellington newspaper The Post on Wednesday night, showed the coalition likely to lose office.
Such a result would be historic, as New Zealand's first one-term government in half a century, and the first right-leaning government not to be re-elected in 90 years.
Labour finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds said Mr Luxon would be judged by Kiwis as a poor economic steward.
"Under his watch the economy has shrunk over the last year - and it hasn't grown at all since he became prime minister," she said.
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