Something is rotten in the state of Kiwiland.
What on earth is going on in New Zealand?
House prices have been on the slide for years, and it now looks like the falls are accelerating.
Take a look at how it charts out. In nominal terms, prices are down about 10-20%, depending on which region you’re looking at.
And in real terms (adjusting for inflation), New Zealand’s house prices are pretty much bang on where they were pre-Covid.
And there’s no turn in the market yet, even though the RBNZ has unloaded 200 basis points of cuts… so far!
And with those rate cuts, houses have become more affordable than they have been in years. Mortgage repayments as a percentage of household income have declined from around 50% to just over 35%.
Big price falls, rate cuts, big improvements in affordability… in Australia this would be sparking a buyer feeding-frenzy.
But not in New Zealand. It actually seems to be going the other way.
New data from property website Realestate.co.nz shows that the national average asking price of residential homes on the site fell for the second consecutive month in April to $851,746, down from $884,995 in February.
That’s a 3.5% decline in a month! That’s a huge number. In Australia, house prices typically grow at 0.2 to 0.6% a month. So 3% in a single month is massive.
I mean, this isn’t official data. It comes from a sales website. But still. That’s big.
And it all comes at a time that is traditionally New Zealand’s peak buying season.
But that’s not happening. Sales are tepid, and the stock on market is racking up.
Listings have more than doubled in the past four years, increasing from 15,838 in April 2021 to 35,924 in April 2025.
“There’s plenty of stock on the market, but we’re not seeing a boom in sales activity to move it through yet”, Realestate.co.nz Chief Executive Sarah Wood said.
This is exactly what Australia doesn’t have. Listings here remain close to pandemic lows.
So I don’t know what to make of it.
Part of me looks at it and thinks that’s a buying opportunity.
But not until we start to see a turn in the listings data.
And I’d want to know why listings are piling up.
And why people aren’t buying, despite the big improvement in affordability.
Many mysteries there. I’ll look into it and get back to you.
JG.
Hi Jon the good old days when your word was your honour have all flown out the window.. This is the age of robots like salespeople, who all have the same message since Covid.. ; They all know how to make big money with small outlay or risk.. And like sheep going for slaughter, the ever growing queues of gullible/desperate/ignorant masses don’t even wonder where all this money is coming from..? You and I know where most of it is coming from…namely, the Forex crumbs, that the big players live behind once they have fulfilled their orders for the day. But then, you have the Brokers themselves, unscrupulous lot, who are low enough to play against the hands that feed them, and deplete a portion of the loser’s accounts ,by screwing them quietly and driving them to below zero capital balance, with their greedy tricks and Margin calls.. Is it any wonder, that most of these desperate losers, more than ever, especially with the cost of housing and rents, are falling victims, without raising a single question, where indeed is all these promised wins will be coming from…Little do they know that the so called losers in fact, are themselves.. Even experienced traders ,on average all mostly losers. The Statistics put out by the ones who have a vested interest, hover around 85% losers.. but I would say close to 90%..,and the rest are the insiders/brokers and great institutions. So, in such tight equations, There JUST may be room one per cent of retail traders ,or lucky ones winning a few crumbs.., every now and then.., and even that is NO coincidence. The Broker lets you win from other retail traders, so now, they can take it all from one person ; YOU. So ,what has all that got to do with the price of eggs? you may ask.. Well.. ,you just hit the nail on the head. The price of a dozen eggs, was about $5 not so long ago..Now $12. and we are supposed to believe that inflation is running low at 2%..,but in reality some commodities, have gone up 120%..,such as eggs. And not only do they swear by the 2% theory , but show us graphs too.. So, under this new System of honest cookery,.,there is not one person who may be telling the truth.., and if you are a new comer, gullible, ignorant,desperate..,of course you will see thse promises as a Life saver.. So..,for the prices falling in New Zealand , you are dealing with more mature people, who just by being older and the wisdom after being burned,they are not going to commit until there is more positive results, and not just Hype of Interest rate cuts. And that affects Buyers and Sellers.. I think we need another 2 or 3 percentage cuts.,just to stabilise the downfall..,and for that to continue or remain at the same level for a while..,which means that the Market has tbottomed out. The next thing is more properties still coming on the Market,espcially those vendors who intend to buy again. And finally when that stars to get the ball rolling and make a dent in the graphs…,YOU KNOW WHAT’s next.. You said it… SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER copycats. OOh Sorry not CATS.. A bit like Bob Dylan lyrics ..,The diplomat, with the Siamese cat, with a feather in his hat , and that;s THAT ..