- House prices have quadrupled in 25 years, outpacing household income growth, research shows.
- Regional areas outperformed cities, with Southland's median price rising 658% since 2000.
- Affordability issues have worsened, with Auckland's median house price now 7.4 times median income.
New Zealand house prices have more than quadrupled in the last quarter of a century, but household incomes have failed to keep pace, new research shows.
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OneRoof and its data partner Valocity have measured the changes in the median house price since 2000 and identified the towns and suburbs where property values have surged the most.
The analysis also tracked the changes in housing affordability and found an ever-widening gap between household incomes and property prices.
Over the last 25 years, multiple factors have affected New Zealand's housing market. Building activity, immigration, population growth, interest rates, the GFC, the Christchurch earthquakes, and the Covid pandemic have all impacted house price growth.
At the same time, shifting economic policies and political priorities - both domestic and global - as well as broader changes in society and technology have all shaped the real estate landscape and Kiwi attitudes to it.
In the last 25 years, New Zealand's regional areas have outperformed the major metros by a huge margin, with the median house price in Southland, Otago, Taranaki, Gisborne,
West Coast rising by more than 450%, compared to an average growth rate of 380% in the cities.
Southland's median sale price has shifted the most, jumping 658% from $61,833 in 2000 to $469,008 at the end of 2024.
The growth rate in Auckland and Wellington was less than half of that - 320% and 251%, respectively.
Regional New Zealand's overperformance can be attributed to the extremely low base from which prices started in 2000, with homes typically selling for $100,000 or less in many of the regions listed above.
However, homeowners in some of the country's higher-value major metros have enjoyed big dollar gains in the last 25 years. If you bought in Auckland in 2000 for $239,000 (about the size of a deposit now) you could have sold for $768,000 more at the end of 2024.
The sale profits are higher in Queenstown-Lakes, where houses typically cost $203,000 in 2000 but $1.39m - a difference of more than $1m, and a stark illustration of the amount of money that has poured into the tourist town in the last 25 years.
A look at house prices in the country's wealthy enclaves will leave many Kiwis wishing they had a time machine.
Homes in Herne Bay were selling for just over half a million dollars in 2000 - roughly the same price of a rundown shack in South Auckland in 2024. However, Herne Bay's median sale price is now approaching $3m.
You could have picked up a bach in Omaha for $300,000 in 2000, or a villa in Ponsonby for $350,000, and sold them for more than $2m in 2024.
Changes in property values have also affected the bottom of the market. The price of homes in the South Auckland suburb of Otara is now six times what it was in 2000.
In 2000, you could get a bach in Omaha for around $300,000. Now properties in the coveted beach town will typically fetch more than $2m, although some homes have sold for close to $10m. Photo / Fiona Goodall
And while the suburb's median sale price has yet to reach the magic number joked about by the band OMC (Otara Millionaires Club) in the 1990s, it is not far off it at $720,000, and Otara homes did sell for more than $1m during the post-Covid property boom in 2020 and 2021.
Planning changes that have encouraged more development and intensification have lifted house prices - and more specifically land values - across much of Auckland and other parts of the country.
Another standout suburb in the analysis highlights just that. Waiwhakaiho, in New Plymouth, has leads the country in house price growth. Its median sale price has jumped a whopping 3028% in the last quarter of a century, from $35,000 to $1.095m.
Almost all sales in 2024 in the suburb were of 200sqm-plus homes in a recent development by a golf course. Back in 2000, the suburb was mostly rural land and the few homes there were small.
A change in the sales stock is also behind the $1000 increase in Grafton's median sale price between 2000 and 2024, with many of the suburb's sales in the last 12 months of sub-30sqm apartments for less than $250,000.
Read more stories from OneRoof’s special report:
- How did NZ house prices quadruple in the space of 25 years?
- Top economist's housing market scorecard: Which laws and changes get 10/10?
- Ex-minister's overcrowding fears - 15 to 20 people to a house
The analysis also points to growing affordability problems, with the gap between household incomes and house prices increasing sharply in the last 25 years, even in the country's cheapest regions.
Southland's median sale price has gone from 1.7 times the region's median household income to 4.5 times, while West Coast's median sale price has gone from 1.8 times the median household income to 3.7 times.
While that is quite a leap, percentage-wise, house prices in both regions are still within reach of buyers, and the multiples are well below the nationwide figure of 6.4.
Auckland's median house price was five times its median household income in 2000 but now it is 7.4 times - the highest in the country. The figures suggest there are severe affordability challenges in the city, which could affect future house price growth there.
The analysis also highlights changing tastes, especially at the upper end of the market. In 2000, Wellington's Oriental Bay was New Zealand's most expensive suburb, with a median sale price of $900,000. Houses in neighbouring Roseneath were also highly prized, selling for around $500,000.
However, the median sale price for both in 2024 was $1.37m and $1.29m respectively, which does not even get them into the top 50 expensive suburbs.
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