Steady housing market with prices up but confidence not so much
Monday, 15 June 2026
The housing market appears to be hunkering down for winter, with buyers and sellers weathering higher living costs, political uncertainty and the end of the Reserve Bank's rate-cutting cycle.
REINZ's latest figures showed a market that was steadier than it was a year ago, but still cautious: the national median price rose 1.3% to $775,000 in May, while sales volumes fell 12.6% to 6523.
The national House Price Index, which measures changes in the value of comparable properties, slipped 0.6% over the year and was down 1.7% over the past three months.
REINZ said the figures pointed to a housing market that was becoming more settled, but one where buyers remained cautious and conditions varied significantly between regions.
Read more:
National inventory levels increased 5% to 36,130 properties, while new listings were largely unchanged, rising just 0.3% to 9521. The median time taken to sell a property remained at 47 days.
The strongest performance came from the South Island, where both Southland and Canterbury reached record or near-record median prices.
Southland recorded the country's strongest annual growth, with its median price rising 10.2% to a record $540,000. Invercargill also reached a new record median price of $540,000, surpassing the previous high set last September.
Canterbury matched its record median price of $725,000, up 6.6% from a year earlier. Kaikōura set a new territorial authority record of $910,000.
REINZ said strong rural commodity prices, relative affordability and ongoing migration from larger centres continued to support demand in parts of the South Island.
Elsewhere, Northland's median price rose 3.9% to $660,000, Taranaki increased 2.9% to $602,000 and Auckland climbed 2.6% to just over $1 million.
Despite the price gains, sales activity weakened almost everywhere. Fifteen of the country's 16 regions recorded fewer sales than a year ago, with Hawke's Bay the only region not to experience a decline.
Wellington recorded its lowest May sales count since 2022 and its median price decreased by 2.8% year-on-year to $770,000 taking an average 53 days to sell a property. Uncertainty surrounding public sector job cuts announced ahead of last month's Budget as a factor was weighing on buyer confidence in the capital.
Canterbury and Southland continued to absorb new stock quickly, while Marlborough recorded the sharpest year-on-year increase in unsold inventory.
Auckland recorded 3630 listings, slightly lower than May 2025, the first time in 2026 that Auckland's monthly listings total has not exceeded the equivalent month a year earlier
Nationally, buyers continued to face cost-of-living pressures and uncertainty ahead of November's election, while the Reserve Bank's decision in May to leave the official cash rate unchanged at 2.25% confirmed the end of the rate-cutting cycle that had supported market activity through much of 2025.
Auction activity remained relatively stable, accounting for 12.6% of all sales in May, compared with 11.9% a year earlier.
Looking ahead, REINZ said the direction of the market would depend on several factors, including the Reserve Bank's July OCR decision, the economic impact of Budget measures and broader household confidence.