How much does it cost to buy a house in Auckland?

How much you pay for a house in Auckland will depend on where you are looking to buy. The region's average property value is $1.308 million, while the median sale price is $995,000.

Prices tend to vary from district to district and suburb to suburb. Even prices in neighbouring suburbs can differ by as much as $2m-$3m.

Auckland is New Zealand’s most populous region and is made up of seven territorial local authorities (TLAs) – Auckland City, Franklin, Manukau, North Shore, Papakura, Rodney and Waitakere – and 277 suburbs.

It is New Zealand's biggest housing market, in terms of number of listings, and volume and value of sales.

What's the average house worth in Auckland?

Auckland's average property value is $1.308 million, down 2.6% (-$35,000) in the last quarter, and down 14.8% (-$227,000) year-on-year, according to the latest figures from the OneRoof-Valocity House Value Index (taken at the end of April 2023).

Auckland's housing market has suffered badly from the downturn. Its annual rate of decline is higher than New Zealand’s (down 12.9% year-on-year to an average property value of $958,000) and more than 10 percentage points higher than Canterbury's (down 4.7% year-on-year to $755,000).

The region's average property value hit a peak of $1.58m in January 2022, but has since fallen 17.2% (-$272,989).

For sellers and buyers, it's worth noting that Auckland's current average property value is still 16.7% ($187,000) higher than it was pre-Covid and 20.3% ($221,000) above what it was five years ago.

The rate of decline in the region's average property value has eased in the last six months, from a rolling quarterly average of 5% to just over 3%.

The map below shows change in Auckland's average property value compared to the rest of New Zealand. Click on the locations to see the values. The redder the location, the higher the growth.

The table shows the value change in different parts of the city.

The chart below shows the change in Auckland's average property value in the last five years. Also shown, for comparison, is the change in NZ's average property value over the same period.

Auckland sale prices - how much do houses cost in the region?

The OneRoof-Valocity House Value Index tracks the value of every residential and lifestyle property in New Zealand - whether it is on the market for sale or not.

The median sale price, as used by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ), tells you the middle sale price of all the properties that were sold during a given time period. Both measures are valid ways to gauge the worth of your property. The REINZ median house price gives you an idea of what buyers are paying for listed properties in the current market.

According to REINZ, Auckland's median sale price in April 2023 was $995,000 - down 15% year-on-year, and down 0.5%, on the month before.

The nationwide median sale price in March 2023 was, at $780,000, down 10.9% year-on-year, but up 0.3% on the month before.

Auckland is still the country's most expensive region for property, with its median sale price well ahead of Wellington's ($797,000) and Canterbury's ($660,000), and more than double the median sale price of the country's cheapest region for property, West Coast ($379,000).

According to REINZ, Auckland's median sale price has fallen 23% since hitting a peak of $1.3m in November 2021.

The table below features the latest average property for every suburb in the region. The value is an indication of how much a typical home in each suburb is worth and how much it might sell for if it was listed on the open market.

What are the most expensive and the cheapest places to buy a house in Auckland?

House prices in Auckland in the last 12 months ranged from as low as $25,000 for a two-bedroom leasehold apartment in the CBD to as high as $20.75m for a luxury home on Marine Parade, in Herne Bay. The city's most expensive location for property is Coatesville, in Rodney. The northern fringe suburb, which is dominated by lifestyle blocks and is home to Zuru billionaire Nick Mowbray and his $32.5m mansion estate, has an average property value of $3.797m, up 3.7% ($136,000) year-on-year.

The metro suburb with the highest house prices is Herne Bay. Its average property value is $3.49m, down 16.9% (-$709,000) in the last 12 months.

Overall, there are 179 suburbs in the region with 10 or more settled sales in the last 12 months that have an average property value of more than $1m, down from 201 a year ago.

The cheapest suburbs for property in Auckland are Auckland Central, Manukau and Grafton. All three are apartment-heavy locations, favoured by first-home buyers, investors and foreign students. Auckland Central has the lowest average property value, at $593,000, down 7.9% (-$51,000) year-on-year, with Manukau's not far behind at $628,000 (down 13.3% year-on-year) and Grafton's sitting at $660,000 (down 13.8% year-on-year). Overall, there are 42 suburbs in the region with 10 or more settled sales in the last 12 months that have an average property value of less than $1m, up from 20 a year ago.

The charts below show Auckland's most expensive and cheapest suburbs, plus the year-on-year price change.

Where have house prices grown the most and the least in Auckland?

Of the 222 Auckland suburbs with 10 or more settled sales in the last 12 months, just one, Coatesville, recorded year-on-year property value growth. Its average property value was up 3.7% to $3.797m. Property values in every other suburb were in decline. For long-time Auckland homeowners, the suburb with the strongest five-year growth is Omaha - a beach town on the region's northern fringes favoured by wealthy Aucklanders. Its average property value has grown 58.4% ($1.01m) since April 2018.

Auckland's biggest year-on-year drop was in Totara Park, Manukau. The suburb's average property value fell 29.1% ($793,000) in the last 12 months to $1.935m. Values in two suburbs, Auckland Central and Newmarket, are down on April 2018 levels - 1.1% and 0.5% respectively.

The charts below show where property values have grown the most and the least in Auckland year-on-year.

How many houses are for sale in Auckland?

As of April 20, 2023 there were 12,289 residential properties for sale in Auckland on OneRoof.co.nz.

There are two measures of listings volumes that the analysis below covers – total listings and new listings.

For buyers and sellers, total listings shows you how many properties there are for sale, while new listings shows you how much new stock has come onto the market. Both numbers are an indication of how hot or cold the market is, and where the balance of power sits.

The total number of listings for Auckland on OneRoof.co.nz in April was down 1.89% month-on-month and up only 0.55% year-on-year. New listings for the region in the 30 days to April 20, 2023 totalled 2904, down 20.35% year-on-year. The annual rate of decline in new listings was below Wellington's (down 42%), but above the nationwide rate of decline of 18.9%, and the 8.85% rate of decline in Canterbury.

For sellers in Auckland, the year-on-year rise in total listings suggests further downwards pressure on prices. However, the fact that new listings are down suggest two things. First, new sellers are holding off until the market improves. Second, the decrease in new stock could end up limiting the rate of the region's house price decline, by increasing the competition for listed properties.

The tables show the year-on-year change in total listings and new listings for Auckland and the rest of NZ.

How long does it take to sell a house in Auckland?

Figures from REINZ show how long properties are taking to sell in the region. In April 2023, the median days to sell for Auckland was 43, down from 45 the month before but up from 40 in April 2022.

The nationwide figure for March 2023 was 47 days (up from 38 days in April 2022) while in Canterbury properties took 37 days to sell (up from 31 days in April 2022) and in Wellington the figure was 52 days (up from 48 days in April 2022).

The regions where properties took the longest to sell in April 2023 were Northland (73 days) and West Coast (69).

REINZ figures also show the number of residential properties sold in Auckland in April 2023 was 1258 - down 32% on the month before and down 23% on April 2022.

The year-on-year rate of decline in nationwide property sales was 15%, while in Canterbury it was 11% and Wellington 12%.

The chart below shows the monthly change in the median days to sell in Auckland since January 2021.

The chart below shows the monthly change in residential property sales in Auckland since January 2021.

Who's buying in Auckland?

First-home buyers are the biggest buying group in Auckland. Their share of new mortgage registrations in the first quarter of 2023 was 47.7%, up from 41% in the first quarter of 2022. The share of new mortgage registrations by first-home buyers in Canterbury and Wellington in Q1 2023 was 43.3% and 47% respectively.

New mortgage registrations by investors in Auckland the first quarter of 2023 was 24.3%, up from 21.9% in the first quarter of 2022. Investors' share of purchases in Canterbury and Wellington in Q1 this year was 22.5% and 17.9% respectively.

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