OneRoof House Price Report - August 2025

- House prices remain stagnant despite lower interest rates, benefitting first-home buyers while challenging vendors.

- Nationwide average property value fell 0.1% annually, with six regions recording growth, led by West Coast.

- Wellington and Auckland saw significant drops, while Christchurch and Queenstown-Lakes experienced modest growth.

New Zealand’s house prices are stuck in a rut, despite lower interest rates providing buyers with access to more credit. That’s good news for first-home buyers, but challenging for vendors who bought at the height of the market.

The latest figures from OneRoof and its data partner, Valocity, highlight the sluggishness in the housing market, a year after the country’s major banks began cutting mortgage rates.

The nationwide average property value fell 0.1% ($1000) annually to $961,000, with the last three months particularly challenging for sellers as values dropped nearly 1%.

Of the country’s 16 regions, only six recorded annual property value growth, with the strongest lifts in West Coast (+3%), Canterbury (+2.3% and now back to market peak), and Southland (+2%).

Property values in just one North Island region, Taranaki, increased year-on-year, although only slightly, at 0.1%.

Northland values were flat, but property values across the rest of the North Island were down on average 1%. Wellington was hardest hit, with its average property value dropping 4% ($35,000) to $845,000.

Auckland’s average property value dropped 0.7% ($9000) to $1.27 million, largely driven by a harsh winter market, which has seen values drop by almost 2% over the last three months.

Just two regions saw value growth in the three months to the end of July, Canterbury, up 0.6%, and Northland, up 1.1%, driven by increased sales activity by first-home buyers in Kaipara and the Far North, and some big-ticket sales in the Bay of Islands.

Keeping a lid on price growth in many regions (and actively depressing prices in others) are high listing volumes and uncertainty in the employment market and wider economy.

These have blunted the effect of falling interest rates. FOMO, briefly at play in October and November last year, is largely absent, with buyers in no hurry to purchase.

Those holding out for a bargain have benefitted from favourable buying conditions, not least of which is cheaper credit.

Since July 2024, the average one-year rate has dropped by two percentage points, from just over 7% to 5%, while the average 18-month rate has dropped from almost 7% to below 5%. The OCR, over the same period, was reduced from 5.5% to 3.25%, its lowest level in three years.

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Market commentators are increasingly finding the market to be one of the friendliest in years for first-home buyers.

Independent economist and OneRoof columnist Tony Alexander has commented, following recent surveys of real estate agents and investors: “First-home buyers face relatively little competition in the market, and time is on their side.

“Investor interest in the market is weak because maintenance costs, including meeting Healthy Homes standards, rates, and insurance, are high. Tenants are also perceived to be in short supply, and the ability to raise rents to recoup higher costs is limited.”

The triumph of first-time buyers is evident in Christchurch, where relatively affordable prices and access to employment have helped lift the city’s average property value by almost 2% annually to $800,000, just $2000 shy of its post-Covid peak.

OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan: "Keeping a lid on price growth in many regions (and actively depressing prices in others) are high listing volumes and uncertainty in the employment market and wider economy." Photo / Fiona Goodall

The listings that have hit the Christchurch market are mostly at price points that first-time buyers can afford. And while the city’s busy auction market is geared to drive competition, there have been few cases of runaway prices.

The only other major metro to enjoy annual price growth was Queenstown-Lakes. Its average property value rose 0.5% to just over $2m, but the market there has slowed in the last three months.

Wellington City has reaped little from the cuts in interest rates, with its average property dropping 5.5% ($55,000) annually and 2% in the last three months to $938,000 – its lowest level in almost five years.

Since market peak more than three years ago, the capital’s average property value has dropped almost 30% ($400,000).

Suburb winners and losers

The analysis found 123 suburbs where property values have hit a new high or are less than 2% below their post-Covid peak. All but six are in the South Island.

Of the 912 suburbs with 20 or more settled sales in the last 12 months, 347 recorded value growth over the quarter and 428 were up year-on-year.

The biggest quarterly increases at the end of July were in Great Barrier Island / Aotea Island, Auckland (+5.5%); Mataura, Gore (+5.2%); Kaitaia, Far North (+5%); Mangawhai, Kaipara (+4.3%); and Waiheke Island, Auckland (+4.2%).

The biggest annual increases were in Kaiteriteri, Tasman (+10.4%); Lake Hayes, Queenstown-Lakes (+10.2%); Cracroft, Christchurch (+9.8%); Moana, Grey (+9.8%); and Cobden, Grey (+9.6%). Value growth for all five has slowed in the last three months, with Moana and Cobden dropping in value.

Auckland and Wellington dominate the list of falling suburbs, although the Hamilton suburb of Peacocke recorded the biggest quarterly drop. Its average property value tumbled 6.1% over the last three months to $1.04m. Wellington Central suffered the biggest annual drop - a plunge of 16.1% to $465,000.

The chill running through Wellington’s housing market has seen property values in 11 suburbs in the city now lower than they were in July 2020, with Wellington Central and Mount Victoria suffering the steepest five-year drops (-14.2% and -11.2% respectively).

The biggest dollar gains over the last 12 months were in Lake Hayes (+$266,000), Arrowtown (+$252,000), and Point Wells (+$216,000), while the biggest dollar losses over the same period were in Whitford (-$306,000), Oriental Bay (-$245,000), and Seatoun (-$121,000). The figures also showed 28 suburbs fell out of the $1m club in the last 12 months, but that prices in 35 suburbs, mostly in Canterbury, crossed the $1m mark.

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