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1 week ago | 
interest.co.nz | Greg Ninness |Gareth Vaughan |David Hargreaves
The housing market is not its usual self at the moment and several indicators suggest it is a bit under the weather as it comes down from its summer highs. The first area of concern is prices. Take a look at the graph below which tracks the REINZ's median selling price from month to month. It shows that after the precipitous increase in prices that occurred between May 2020 and November 2021, and the sharp correction which followed until August 2022, prices have gone, well, more or less nowhere.
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1 week ago | 
interest.co.nz | Greg Ninness |Gareth Vaughan |David Hargreaves
House prices declined in March even though sales numbers were up strongly, according to the latest figures from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ). The REINZ House Price Index (HPI), which adjusts for differences in the mix of properties sold each month and is widely regarded as the most accurate indicator of house price movements, declined 0.6% nationally in March from February. It was down 0.7% compared to March last year.
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1 week ago | 
interest.co.nz | Greg Ninness |Gareth Vaughan |David Hargreaves
February saw a strong upturn in inward migration flows, although population growth from migration remains well below previous years on an annual basis. According to Statistics NZ's latest migration estimates, 17,018 people arrived in New Zealand long-term in February. That's up 8.5% compared to February last year, and was the highest it has been for any month of the year since September 2023.
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1 week ago | 
interest.co.nz | Greg Ninness |Gareth Vaughan |David Hargreaves
Auction rooms around the country were busy in the first week after the end of daylight saving, with interest.co.nz monitoring the auctions of 508 residential properties over the week, up from 445 the previous week. Of the properties offered at auction, 176 were sold under the hammer, giving an overall sales rate of 35%. That's down by the narrowest of margins from 36% to 37% over the previous few weeks. Of the properties that sold, 37% achieved prices equal to or above their rating valuation.
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2 weeks ago | 
interest.co.nz | Greg Ninness |Gareth Vaughan |David Hargreaves
Residential rents finished summer on a decidedly flat note and have been more or less unchanged for the last 12 months. According to bond data from Tenancy Services, the national median rent for all dwelling types was $600 a week in February, unchanged from February last year. In fact the national median rent has been stuck on $600 a week almost continuously since December 2023.
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2 weeks ago | 
interest.co.nz | Greg Ninness |Gareth Vaughan |David Hargreaves
There are further signs the housing market is heading into winter with a large oversupply of unsold homes. Trade Me Property is the latest property website to report a surge in properties for sale, after rival website Realestate.co.nz reported a similar surge a week ago. Trade Me Property said the number of properties listed for sale on the site hit a decade high in February, and continued to climb another 6% in March. That puts total stock up 12% compared to March last year.
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2 weeks ago | 
interest.co.nz | Greg Ninness |Gareth Vaughan |David Hargreaves
Residential construction costs are rising at one of the lowest rates on record, according to the Cordell Construction Cost Index, compiled by property data company CoreLogic. The Index tracks the costs to build a typical new dwelling.*, According to the latest update, overall costs rose just 0.3% in the March 2025 quarter, and just 0.9% over the 12 months to March.
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2 weeks ago | 
interest.co.nz | Greg Ninness |Gareth Vaughan |David Hargreaves
Residential property values largely remained at a standstill in the first quarter of this year, Quotable Value (QV) says. According to the QV House Price Index, the national average dwelling value eked out a $1,514, or 0.2%, rise in the March quarter to $903,928 versus the December quarter's $902,414. However, that's down 2.3% compared to the first quarter (Q1) last year, and down 15% compared to the late 2021 peak.
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2 weeks ago | 
interest.co.nz | Greg Ninness |Gareth Vaughan |David Hargreaves
A decline in activity was evident at the latest housing auctions monitored by interest.co.nz, although the sales rate remained remarkably stable. Interest.co.nz monitored 445 residential property auctions around the country over the week of March 29 to  April 4. That was down from 531 the previous week, and well down from the summer season peak of 601 in the last week of February.
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3 weeks ago | 
interest.co.nz | Greg Ninness |Gareth Vaughan |David Hargreaves
The year kicked off with a huge jump in the number of new homes completed in Auckland. Auckland Council issued 1291 Code Compliance Certificates for new dwellings in January, up 34% on January last year. It's the highest number issued in the month of January since the Council began collating the numbers in 2013. The figures were particularly surprising because January is usually the slowest month of the year for new dwelling completions.
