Does this data show how the property market is changing month to month?

Yes and no. This data shows the median price of all the houses that sold in a month. But the properties that sell in March will differ from those that sell in April. Let’s say a heap of small, cheap apartments sell in March. In that case, the median sale price will be very low for that month. It might be $400,000. The next month, several 3-bedroom houses sell. In this (extreme) case, the median sale price in April will be very high. It might be $800,000. You might look at that jump and think, “Holy heck, the median house price doubled between March and April. Property prices are going crazy!” Well, not necessarily. House prices (in general) didn’t double … it’s just that low-quality houses were sold in March. The following month higher-quality homes sold. So, did the median house price jump because the property market appreciated? Or did it go up because better-quality houses sold in the second month? That’s why you shouldn’t use this data to track short-term changes in the property market. To do that, you should look at the REINZ house price index.

How is the data calculated?

This graph shows the median house price. That is the middle number of a series. This differs from what most people call the ‘average’ price. For all you data-nerd, that’s the ‘mean’ price. For example, let’s say 5 properties sold in a month. These properties sold for – $500k, $600k, $700k, $1 million, and $2 million. The median house sale is the one in the middle – $700k. That’s the median house price. But the average (mean) sale price was – $960,0000. That’s because the average (mean) has been biased upwards by the 2 expensive properties ($1 million and $2 million). To be clear, both the mean and median prices are correct. They are just two different ways of calculating the data. Knowing this, you can decide which measure gives you a better sense of how the market is going. Over time it’s become common practice worldwide to report the median house price rather than the average.

Where does this data come from?

The data shown in this graph comes from REINZ – the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand. They are the organisation that represents real estate agents around the country. Every time a real estate agent makes an unconditional sale, they report this to REINZ. This means that REINZ gets the data before it becomes publicly available. This can make the REINZ data more responsive to market changes than other data providers (like QV or CoreLogic).

REINZ vs QV vs CoreLogic house price data – what’s best?

REINZ, QV and CoreLogic are all organisations that provide data about the New Zealand housing market. Every month they report the average house price in New Zealand. If you follow the news closely, you’ll see that the figures they report are all different. REINZ might say the average house price is $800,000.CoreLogic might say it’s $1 million.QV might say it’s $1.1 million. This is because the companies collect and calculate the data in different ways. REINZ reports the median sales price. This means they take the middle price of all the properties sold monthly. QV and CoreLogic report the average (mean) house value. Doesn’t sound like there’s much difference – but there is. QV and CoreLogic use recent sales data to estimate the value of every house in New Zealand. They then take the average of those estimates. So the REINZ data only considers the properties sold within a month. On the other hand, CoreLogic and QV consider all properties in the market. For these reasons, the median sale price reported by REINZ will often be lower than the average house value reported by CoreLogic and QV. Again, neither is wrong. The 3 data sets just tell you different things – REINZ, the middle house that sold in a monthCoreLogic and QV, the average house value within the broader property market. There are other more technical differences. But there are the main ones you need to know.

Can I download the data?

No. We are not allowed to create a feature on our website that lets you download the data. We also can’t email you a spreadsheet with the data. REINZ provides this data to real estate agents as part of their membership fees. They also charge businesses money for access to the data. We can give you graphs for free as part of our agreement with REINZ. But we can’t send you a spreadsheet with the data.

4 min read1 Feb 2023

Auckland City's median house price

Find out the median house price for your chosen region and see how it's been changing over time.

Author: Ed McKnight

Our Resident Economist, with a GradDipEcon and over five years at Opes Partners, is a trusted contributor to NZ Property Investor, Informed Investor, Stuff, Business Desk, and OneRoof.

Reviewed by: Laine Moger

Journalist and Property Educator, holds a Bachelor of Communication (Honours) from Massey University.

Copied

Auckland City

Data type: Median sales price
Source: Real Estate Institute of New Zealand

Got a question or comment about this data?

Put your questions and thoughts in the comments section (below).

Common questions about this data

Ed McKnight

Our Resident Economist, with a GradDipEcon and over five years at Opes Partners, is a trusted contributor to NZ Property Investor, Informed Investor, Stuff, Business Desk, and OneRoof.

Ed, our Resident Economist, is equipped with a GradDipEcon, a GradCertStratMgmt, BMus, and over five years of experience as Opes Partners' economist. His expertise in economics has led him to contribute articles to reputable publications like NZ Property Investor, Informed Investor, OneRoof, Stuff, and Business Desk. You might have also seen him share his insights on television programs such as The Project and Breakfast.

View Profile

Related House Prices

Auckland house prices

Bay of Plenty house prices

Canterbury house prices

Explore the latest trends in Canterbury's property market with our graph on median sale prices

Gisborne house prices

Manawatu-Whanganui house prices

Explore the latest trends in Manawatu-Whanganui property market with our graph on median sale prices.

Marlborough house prices

Explore the latest trends in Marlborough property market with our graph on median sale prices

Manukau's median house price

Find out the median house price for your chosen region and see how it's been changing over time.

Waimate District's median house price

Find out the median house price for your chosen region and see how it's been changing over time.