More than a third of apartment sellers making a loss
Thursday, 12 February 2026
More than a third of apartment owners are selling their properties at a loss, but the broader resale market is improving, Cotality says.
The property research company’s latest Pain and Gain Report reveals that in the final quarter of last year, 36.9% of apartments sold were going for less than the seller bought them for.
The median resale loss on apartments was more than $84,000 compared with $52,000 for standalone houses.
But overall 88.1% of all existing properties sold nationwide over the final quarter of last year turned in a profit. That was up from 88.0% in the previous quarter, but it remained well down on the market peak in late 2021 when over 99% of resales were for a profit.
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Overall nearly 12% of property sellers were making a loss.
Cotality chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said the apartment figures did look bad, but resale losses were always more common on apartments.
Traditionally, they accumulated smaller long-term capital gains than standalone houses, and tended to suffer more when market conditions were weak as they had been recently, he said.
“Despite that, the data does not point to sellers under pressure or fire sales occurring.
“The gap largely reflects long-run differences in performance rather than any sudden deterioration in demand for property types.”
More broadly, while resale performance was still soft compared with the boom years, the data suggested the market’s downward drift had slowed and flatlined, and conditions were broadly holding steady, he said.
“The market has entered a trough, which is consistent with how wider prices have performed in recent months. Prices have flattened out, and that stability is now flowing through to resale data.
“This has been a gradual downwards drift in resale performance since early 2022 rather than a slump, and almost nine out of 10 sellers are still making a profit when they trade.”
The national median resale gain was $298,000 in the December quarter, down from the late 2021 peak of $440,000 but still higher than anything seen before 2021.
On a regional basis, Auckland continued to have the highest share of loss -making resales of the main centres at 17.4%, although this was down from 19.3% in the previous quarter.
In Wellington, loss-making resales eased to 15.4% from 15.8%, while Christchurch remained the most resilient of the main centres with just 5.3% of resales resulting in a loss.
Outside the big cities, Palmerston North had the biggest share of loss-making resales at 16.3%, compared with 15.3% the previous quarter, while Queenstown Lakes saw its loss-making resales inch up to 5.5% from 1.7%.
The data also showed that homes resold at a loss had typically been owned for 3.9 years, while the median hold period for properties sold for a profit in the final quarter of 2025 was 10.1 years.
Davidson said that median hold period was the longest period recorded in the series dating back to the mid-1990s, and could reflect a quieter market and sellers having to wait longer for a sale.
Weaker house prices could also be prompting some owners to hold longer as they looked to maximise their capital growth, he said.
“Buyers still have pricing power, but the stock of listings has come down a bit in recent months, so a bit more of a balance between buyers and sellers might be emerging.”
Another quarter or two of flatter results were needed before calling a genuine turning point for the market, but there were tentative hints that resellers were starting to fare a little better, he said.
“New Zealand’s economic outlook, early signs of rising sales volumes and a tentative easing in listings may begin to support house price growth in 2026.
“Lower interest rates should help underpin demand, but any lift in prices is likely to be gradual rather than a sharp rebound.”