Down, down, down go Wellington house prices

Tuesday, 8 July 2025

Wellington’s average house price is now over 26% down from the property market high in 2021 - now at $844,599.

Wellington’s property values have fallen again in the second quarter of the year, with the average across the city down another 2.3% - now 26.1% below the highs of 2021.

The average value now comes in at $844,599, which is lower year on year.

Quotable Values latest house price index showed the region saw values decrease again over the June quarter: Wellington City fell 2.9%, Hutt City down 2.5% and Porirua and Upper Hutt both saw values down slightly by 0.7%.

Quotable Value’s Wellington registered valuer Jack Whiteman said at just past the mid-point of the year, the residential market continued to decrease marginally throughout the wider region.

And the reason is more of the same.

“Despite the OCR cut in June to 3.25% and lowering interest rates, there is still a widespread uncertainty for most prospective buyers looking to enter the market,” Whiteman said.

“The decreasing interest rates have not yet coincided with positive property market growth. This could be due to owner occupiers not yet rolling off fixed rates, or it is also likely that other regional economic drivers will need to come into play before this is to happen,” he said.

Employment uncertainty and a lot of properties on the market was the driver of Wellington’s flat property market.

Whiteman said there was ample property supply and buyers still had a wide range of choice.

“The combination of employment uncertainty, especially in the public sector, and a healthy supply of property is the leading driver to this relatively flat property market,” he said.

Wellington’s not the only main centre with winter property woes. Auckland had also seen values edge down overall in June as high stock levels and cautious buyer sentiment continued to weigh on prices, with some localised pockets of resilience emerging across the super city.

The average home value across the Auckland region dropped 1.0% in the June quarter and was now $1,232,340, which is 1.4% lower than a year ago and 18.8% lower than the market’s nationwide peak of late 2021.

The only place to see an increase was Auckland city with a 0.1% edge up, while others showed decline, Manukau with -1.2%, North Shore with -1.7%, Waitakere with a -1.0% drop, Rodney with -0.04%, Papakura -0.1% and Franklin on -0.6%.

Christchurch’s average home values lifted marginally by 0.1% in the June quarter to $775,352. This was an annual increase of 1.5% values while Dunedin was a mixed bag depending on where in the city you were leaving the average home at $635,155.

QV’s Andrea Rush said buyers were taking advantage of increased choice and easing interest rates, with first-home buyers and owner-occupiers remaining the most active.

Hamilton’s average home was now worth $791,707, with values continuing a slight upward trend from last month, rising 0.5% over the June quarter.

The regions faired slightly better with values rising in Queenstown, Invercargill, Whangarei.

QV’s Andrea Rush said buyers were taking advantage of increased choice and easing interest rates, with first-home buyers and owner-occupiers remaining the most active, particularly in lower to mid-value areas where affordability is within reach.

“Regional divergence is becoming more evident, with more affordable markets recording notable quarterly gains such as the Far North (5.8%), Wairoa (12.6%), Waitomo (5.2%), Buller (6.2%) and Gore (8.8%), while others continue to track lower due to economic uncertainty and a cautious buyer pool,” Rush said.

She said falling interest rates were easing affordability pressures.

The Reserve Bank reviews the OCR this week, with some expecting a 0.25% cut, though many predict it will hold rates at 3.25%.