Wellington house prices down 30% from market peak

Tuesday, 9 September 2025

The housing market’s slump is deepening, with prices in some parts of the country now down by up to 30% from the market peak, Quotable Value says.

House prices nationwide declined by 0.8% to an average of $906,977 over the three months to the end of August, according to the property research company’s latest House Price Index.

While that figure was a 0.2% increase on the same time last year, it is 13.4% lower than the market peak in January 2022.

QV national spokesperson Andrea Rush said the market remained subdued heading into spring, with prices continuing to decrease in most parts of the country.

“The slump is most pronounced in Wellington where values are now close to 30% below their peak, and in Auckland, which is down around 20% — underscoring the scale of the correction since early 2022.”

Of the main centres, Wellington City had the biggest quarterly drop, down 2.4% to an average of $916,540. That’s 27.7% below the market peak.

Auckland’s average price fell 1.4% to $1.21 million, 19.9% below the market peak, while Christchurch and Hamilton prices dropped 1.2% to $770,805 and $782,116 respectively, and Dunedin’s were down 0.7% to $635,618.

Nelson prices took the largest quarterly tumble of any market in the country, down 3.2% to $776,577.

But some markets did see price increases, with Queenstown’s average up 2.5% to $1.86m, and Hastings’ (up 1.7%), Invercargill (up 0.4%), Tauranga (up 0.3%), and New Plymouth (up 0.1%)

Rush said a steady flow of new townhouse and apartment completions were giving buyers greater choice and helping to limit upward pressure on prices.

Buyers were taking longer to commit, and sellers were increasingly having to meet the market, she said.

“Agents report some homeowners are struggling to sell in time to secure their next property, leading to more deals falling through.'

The good news was that with prices coming down and interest rates beginning to ease, affordability was slowly improving for buyers in many areas, she said.

“However, higher living costs, rising unemployment, the broader economic downturn, and stretched household budgets continue to restrict demand.

“Net migration has slowed sharply since the post-pandemic peak, with more people now leaving New Zealand than arriving, in contrast to the strong inflows that helped to fuel house price growth.”

Commentators have been revising their house price expectations down recently, with the latest being ANZ which slashed its forecast for price growth this year to 0%, from its previous forecast of 2.5%.

Last week, the Government announced changes to the foreign buyer rules which would allow “active investor visa” holders to buy or build one home valued over $5 million.

But that was not expected to have much of an impact on the market, with less than 1% of New Zealand homes valued at $5m.

The changes would take some time to impact in places like Queenstown and Auckland, where most of the homes priced above $5m were located, Rush added.