Property Investment
Property Investment
2 min read
NZ property market report #13 - 26th March '25
Over the last 12 months New Zealand property prices are down 1.2%. But they’ve gone up 0.6% in the last 3 months.
Here’s your monthly plain English property report.
As usual, all the data you’ve signed up for is below.
But before you get to that … how are house prices going?
One of the difficulties with tracking property prices is that they go up and down with the seasons.
They go down in December and then often rocket back in February.
That’s why we need to look at seasonally adjusted house prices. This takes out the ups and downs that come from the calendar.
Over the last 3 months house prices were up 0.6% (once you take out the seasonal effect).
The previous 3 months before that, they were up 0.5%.
That’s two quarters in a row they went up. It’s not massive growth, but it’s steady progress.
You can use the below graph not just to see the seasonal change in house prices … but also to see whether the market is picking up steam or slowing down.
Property prices in Canterbury have picked up speed. While Waikato has lost a bit of momentum (even after you take out the seasonal effect).
You can also see that the downturn appears well and truly over.
Seasonally adjusted prices only fell in Hawke’s Bay/Gisborne and Manawatu-Whanganui over the last 3 months.
In the prior 3 months that was contained to Wellington and Otago.
Overall house prices have stabilised or are increasing in most regions.
Right, on to the data.
New Zealand
- 🟢 seasonally adjusted house prices are up 0.3% over the last month
- 🔴 days to sell are up 5.9% year on year. 54 vs 51 days to sell this time last year
- 🔴 the number of listings is up 18.8% year on year. 32,652 listings are currently on the market vs 27,483 this time last year (+5,169).
- 🟠 the number of sales was up 3.5% in February compared to the same month the previous year.
- 🟠 the average rent is up 2.5% in January compared to last year.
Over the last 12 months New Zealand property prices are down 1.2%. But they’ve gone up 0.6% in the last 3 months.
In February it took 54 days to sell a property (on average). That's 3 days more than the same time last year.
Currently there are 32,652 properties on the market. That is up 18.8% compared to last February.
In terms of sales, February was slightly stronger than the previous year. 6,287 properties sold last month. That's 3.5% up on the prior year.
Rents are up 2.5% in New Zealand year-on-year. Over the last twelve months the average rent increased by $15 a week, from $605 to $620.
Here’s the average rent broken down by property type and number of bedrooms.
The average rent for a:
- 2-bed townhouse is $590, that's down 1% since last year
- 3-bed townhouse is $710, that's down 1% since last year
- 3-bed house is $660, that's down 1% since last year
- 4-bed house is $800, that's down 2% since last year
The number of rental searches on TradeMe was down 3% last month compared to the same time last year.
The number of listings on the other hand, were up 19% compared to the same time last year.
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.