Momentum Building: House Prices Rise for 5th Straight Month
OneRoof House Price Report – April 2025
Dunedin’s average property value jumped 1.2% to $680,000 in the three months to the end of March.
– House prices rose for the fifth month in March, with Otago reaching a record high.
– The nationwide average property value increased 0.4% to $970,000, with sales up 3.4% annually.
– Tasman led growth at 2.3%, while Wellington and Northland saw value drops.
New Zealand house prices rose for the fifth consecutive month in March, with one region reaching an all-time high, but the market also showed signs of slowing as competition for buyers intensified.
The latest house price figures from the OneRoof-Valocity House Value Index showed the nationwide average property value increased 0.4% in the last three months to $970,000.
This was less than half of the quarterly growth rate recorded at the end of January.
Homebuyers have benefitted from near-record stock levels, with the number of properties coming to market in the first three months of the year pushing total residential listings well above 40,000.
The swing to a buyer’s market has curbed value growth, with many vendors now having to reset expectations and price their homes more realistically.
However, falling interest rates and better home loan deals have encouraged buyer activity, with Real Estate Institute of New Zealand figures showing sales up 3.4% annually in February.
The OneRoof-Valocity figures showed quarterly price rises or no change in 13 of the country’s 16 regions. Tasman led the pack with value growth of 2.3%, followed by Gisborne (+1.8%) and Otago (+1.4%). The growth rate elsewhere was more modest, similar to the nationwide figure.
Recording value drops over the summer were Hawke’s Bay (-0.1%); Wellington (-0.7%); and Northland (-0.8%).
Price growth in Otago pushed the region’s average property value to an all-time high of $1.005 million. It is now the fifth region to cross the $1m threshold and the only one, bar Auckland, to do so outside the post-Covid market boom.
House prices in Auckland’s central suburbs are up 1% over the quarter. Photo / Fiona Goodall
OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan: “Falling interest rates and better home loan deals have encouraged buyer activity.” Photo / Fiona Goodall
And while Bay of Plenty, Tasman, and Wellington quickly dropped out the $1m club, the flurry of big sales in Queenstown-Lakes and a push by first-home buyers and investors into Otago’s more affordable areas are likely to support future value growth in the region.
House prices in Queenstown-Lakes and Dunedin jumped more than 1% over the summer, with Queenstown-Lakes’ average property value, like Otago’s, hitting a new peak at $2.07m.
While the market softened in Auckland overall, the figures show pockets of strength in the city’s central suburbs. Auckland City’s average property value was up 1% to $1.47m in the three months to the end of March.
Sales in the city, especially auction sales, have yielded good results, although this could well be a result of vendors in the city responding better to shifts in buyer price points than their counterparts elsewhere.
The market slowdown is also evident at a suburb level. Less than half of the suburbs covered by the OneRoof-Valocity analysis recorded value growth in the three months to the end of March, down from more than two-thirds in the three months to the end of February.
The biggest quarterly increases were Runanga (+7.1%), Ahuriri (+6.5%) and Putaruru (+6.3%), but value growth in these suburbs, while still substantial, has started to ease – for example, Ahuriri’s growth rate has fallen by more than one percentage point in the space of two months.
The analysis also identified 38 suburbs, mostly in Otago and Canterbury, where prices reached new heights – up from 27 last month – and another 62 suburbs where prices are less than 5% below their post-Covid peaks.
Overall, suburbs in the capital seem to be struggling the most, with Wellington Central recording the biggest value drop over the quarter. Its average property value fell 6.2% ($31,000) to $467,000. Only three Wellington suburbs saw value growth – Johnsonville, Kelburn and Khandallah – although that growth was minimal.
The figures also point to weaknesses in Taupo’s property market, with homes in Wharewaka, Waipahihi, Kinloch, Acacia Bay and Hilltop suffering value drops of between $50,000 and $70,000.
The biggest dollar gain was in Auckland’s Coatesville, where the average property value jumped $121,000 over the quarter. Three other pricey Auckland suburbs – Herne Bay, Omaha and Waiheke Island – were also up by more than $100,000.
The analysis also found that house prices had risen by more than a quarter of a million dollars in over 200 suburbs in the five years since Covid-19 struck.
OneRoof found significant changes at the top and bottom of the market. Prices in two wealthy suburbs jumped by more than $1m in the last five years, while the cost of a typical home in three of the country’s cheapest hotspots almost doubled.
The average property value in 27 suburbs was more than $500,000 ahead of April 2020 levels.
In dollar terms, the five biggest winners are Arrowtown (up $1.228m), Lake Hayes (+$1.016m); Omaha (+$994,000); Point Wells (+$861,000); and Waiheke Island (+$805,000).Property Value Changes In NZ And The Regions
Read the full article here
