Median house prices and sales volumes both on the rise - REINZ

Property / news

National median house price rose 2.9% in February from January, reaching $772,000

17th Mar 25, 9:00am by Greg Ninness

House prices and sales volumes were both in positive territory in February, according to the latest sales data from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand.

The REINZ recorded 6287 residential sales nationally in February, up 3.4% compared to February last year.

However sales in the Auckland market, the largest in the country by far, were on the weaker side and down 1.8% compared to February last year.

The national median selling price was $772,000 in February, up 2.9% compared to January, but down 2.4% compared to February last year.

In Auckland the median selling price was $1,010,000, up an impressive 6.4% compared to January, but down 0.5% compared to February last year.

Properties are also taking longer to sell, with the national median number of days to achieve a sale increasing to 54, up by three days compared to February last year.

The increase in market activity last month was not unexpected because February and March are traditionally the busiest months of the year for residential real estate.

"February saw a rise in sales, but median prices lagged, with only six regions recording an increase," REINZ Acting Chief Executive Rowan Dixon said.

"A high number of listings can give buyers less urgency - if they miss out on one property, plenty of similar options are still available," he said.

Note re the REINZ House Price Index: We have been advised by the REINZ that the original figures it released in its House Price Index Report for February were incorrect, and we are unable to provide an update at this time. Therefore the HPI figures in the chart below may not be correct.

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Median price - REINZ

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Source: REINZ

Volumes sold - REINZ

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Source: REINZ

Days to sell - REINZ

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Source: REINZ

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19 Comments

by Cote d'Azur | 17th Mar 25, 9:02am 1742155330

Excellent way to start the morning, cheers to all hard working multiple property owners! 🥂

by Nifty | 17th Mar 25, 12:33pm 1742168032

A good result for some... for others it's not so 'kraken'..

by kraken | 17th Mar 25, 4:27pm 1742182055

That’s a lot of likes, Nifty. In a downtrend, seeing some optimism just means we have further to fall, we haven’t seen the market capitulate yet. Lots of listings, with properties still being removed unsold.

by Yvil | 17th Mar 25, 9:12am 1742155967

A bit of a surprise to see prices going up.

by ex socialist | 17th Mar 25, 12:26pm 1742167568

Unsure if they did - the HPI that was published (unsure what the correction implies) is that hpi for Auckland/Wellington down - up a little elsewhere. Either way, the median is a challenge in the market as it doesn't correct for the mix of housing sold.

Auckland prices look to me to be set to drop another couple of percentage points over the next year. I would have thought provincial centres prices are likely to grow a little as they have demand exceeding supply - and the supply of new houses has to be above the median.

by mfd | 17th Mar 25, 12:50pm 1742169021

Yeah, I wouldn't get too excited until the HPIs are confirmed - much less noisy dataset and really the gold standard.

by Retired-Poppy | 17th Mar 25, 9:16am 1742156208

The Property Besotted need a headline like this as motivation just to get out of bed. They've had it tough. Is this a sustainable floor? Time will tell over the winter months ⌚. Like Yvil, I think it's a good thing that inventory continues to build and prices keep falling...

by Yvil | 17th Mar 25, 9:22am 1742156548

I think all of NZ is "property besotted", just look at the number of comments on any house related article. The only point of large difference is those wanting prices to go up vs those wanting prices to come down.

by Averageman | 17th Mar 25, 9:23am 1742156580

Bearing in mind peak selling season and lowered interest rates, such surely is not to be unexpected?

by Nifty | 17th Mar 25, 12:35pm 1742168135

Have you seen the comments section here... house prices were meant to only be going one way 📉

by redcows1 | 17th Mar 25, 9:26am 1742156778

Wahoo. Inflation, this is good yes?

by Averageman | 17th Mar 25, 9:27am 1742156842

Only to bail out the speculative, and fuel bank profit. It is crap for everyone else, especially those on fixed income.

by redcows1 | 17th Mar 25, 10:38am 1742161085

And yet the last 20 years the majority of people and msm in Aotearoa have been celebrating house inflation as the greatest investment in our individual futures we can have. Surely that's not wrong.

by kiwikidsnz | 17th Mar 25, 1:11pm 1742170263

It wasn't wrong until a few years ago. Decades of incompetent self serving politicians gutting out the NZ economy in favour of private sector McJobs & public sector MakeJobs ensured that few could get ahead & provide for their families future without a property side hustle.

Now of course, the best option is the West island

by J.C. | 17th Mar 25, 10:36am 1742160986

Could be worse. Think of the poor Aussies. Historically the median household was out there buying houses to live in. A new PropTrack report based on ABS data, suggests that the median household can only afford 1/3 of advertised rentals.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/renting-has-never-been-harder-in-au…

by sgtshortcut | 17th Mar 25, 10:49am 1742161785

Interesting...wasn't expecting a headline like that till spring, wouldn't be surprising to see both dip again over winter, but then the 75bp cuts widely expected over these few months could change that...next stage of the cycle might've started already? 🚴🏻‍♂️🔮🤷🏻‍♂️

Don't worry, "adjusted for inflation" and "in US dollars" will allow those who want to poo poo it to keep doing so for a long time yet 😂

Might be the time to tighten the screws for investors on DTIs/LVRs, especially for existing property?

by IT GUY | 17th Mar 25, 2:44pm 1742175867

So I went to the REINZ Site and downloaded the PDF it say

Year-on-year, the HPI indicates that housing market value nationwide has decreased by 1.2%, decreased in Auckland by 2.3% and decreased outside Auckland by 1.0%

Looking at the REINZ HPI for February 2025, the ‘gold standard’ for New Zealand house price analysis, Jen Baird, Chief Executive at REINZ, says: FEBRUARY 2025 RESULTS REINZ HOUSE PRICE INDEX Year-on-year, the HPI indicates that housing market value nationwide has decreased by 1.2%, decreased in Auckland by 2.3% and decreased outside Auckland by 1.0%. “The REINZ HPI takes many aspects of market composition into account and thus provides more accurate results. When applied to the February data, the HPI indicates that the housing market value nationwide has decreased by 1.2% year-on-year. In Auckland, the value decreased by 2.3% and decreased by 1.0% outside of Auckland. Southland retains the top spot for HPI percentage changes over the 12 months ending February 2025. Tasman/Nelson/Marlborough/ West Coast and Canterbury came second and third, respectively, for annual percentage movement. “The importance of the HPI is evident in the Otago region this month, where the median sale price tells a different story to the HPI. “The median sale price in the region decreased 1.9% over the past year, the sixth-worst annual return of all the regions. This suggests a market where performance is mediocre in the long term compared to other regions. “However, the Otago region had the fourth strongest annual performance of all regions in HPI over the past year with a 0.1% decrease. Sample composition changes — such as the size of properties or the underlying value of properties sold — can change statistics, such as median, that are purely based on price. However, because the underlying value of each property sold is considered by the HPI, such sample changes have little effect on HPI results. In summary, long-term property value growth in Otago has remained constant whereas many other regions have decreased, a fact that would have remained hidden from those monitoring statistics without access to the HPI.”

by Averageman | 17th Mar 25, 7:08pm 1742191719

So article was click bait for the ponzi posters that have all retreated from posting. Can't afford the 27c a day to post they say. If that is indeed true time gor specuvestors to stop the advo on toast and discover cat food.

Less than one coffee a week.

by IT GUY | 17th Mar 25, 7:39pm 1742193592

Be good to get a clear indication on what data changed?