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

How much you pay for a house in Wellington will depend on where you are looking to buy. The region's average property value is $874,000, while the median sale price is $797,000.

Prices tend to vary from district to district and suburb to suburb. Even prices in neighbouring suburbs can differ by as much as $1m-$2m.

Wellington is New Zealand’s third most populous region, behind Auckland and Canterbury, and is made up of eight territorial local authorities (TLAs) – Carterton, Kapiti Coast, Lower Hutt, Masterton, Porirua, South Wairarapa, Upper Hutt and Wellington City – and 223 suburbs.

In terms of the number of listings and the total value of sales, the region’s housing market ranks fourth.

What's the average house worth in Wellington?

According to the latest figures from the OneRoof-Valocity House Value Index (taken at the end of April 2023), the region's average property value was $874,000, down 22% (-$250,000) year-on-year, and down 2.1% (-$19,000) in the last quarter.

Wellington's rate of decline year-on-year is 10 percentage points higher than New Zealand’s (down 12% year-on-year to an average property value of $958,000) and more than 7 percentage points higher than Auckland's (down 15.6% year-on-year to $1.308 million). It also compares unfavourably to Canterbury’s rate of decline – down 4.7% year-on-year to $755,000.

The region's average property value hit a peak of $1.141m in March 2022, but has since fallen 23.4% (-$267,000).

For sellers and buyers, it's worth noting that Wellington's current average property value is still 13% ($105,000) higher than it was pre-Covid, and 38% ($243,000) above what it was five years ago.

The rate of decline in the region's average property value has eased in the last 30 weeks, from a rolling quarterly average of 9%-plus in August 2022 to just under 4% in April 2023.

The maps below show growth in the average property value for Wellington compared to the rest of New Zealand, and the change in average property value for each territorial local authority in the region. Click on the locations to see the values. The redder the location, the higher the growth.

The chart below shows the change in Greater Wellington'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.

How much do houses cost in Wellington?

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, Wellington's median sale price in April 2023 was $797,000, down 14.3% year-on-year, but up 6.3% on the month before. Prices in Wellington peaked at $1m in December 2021, and has fallen a steep 20% since then.

Wellington's median sale price for April is just above the nationwide median sale price of $780,000 and $137,000 above Canterbury's median sale price, currently $660,000. However, it is almost $200,000 below Auckland's ($995,000).

The chart below shows the change in Greater Wellington's median sale price since August 2020, using figures from REINZ.

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 Wellington?

House prices in Wellington in the last 12 months ranged from as low as $100,000 for studio apartments in Wellington CBD to as high as $8m for a grand mansion in Lowry Bay, in Lower Hutt. The region's most expensive suburb for property has long been Oriental Bay, in Wellington City. The waterfront suburb's current average property value is a high $2.096m, but this is down 21% (-$571,000) year-on-year, and only 1.9% (-$39,000) higher than five years ago.

Overall, there are 27 suburbs in the region with 10-plus settled sales in the last 12 months that have an average property value of more than $1m, down from 80 a year ago.

The cheapest suburb for property in Wellington is Wellington Central. Its average property value is $533,000, down 20.9% (-$92,000) year-on-year. Overall, there are 87 suburbs in the region with 10-plus settled sales in the last 12 months that have an average property value of less than $1m, up from 34 a year ago.

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

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

No suburb in Greater Wellington has recorded value growth in the last 12 months. The smallest year-on-year drop was in Hautere, Kapiti Coast, with the suburb's average property value falling only 10% ($153,000) in the last 12 months to $1.376m. For long-time Wellington homeowners, the suburb with the strongest five-year growth is Martinborough, in South Wairarapa. Its average property value has jumped 91% ($511,000) since April 2018.

Wellington's biggest year-on-year drop was in Wilton, in Wellington City. The suburb's average property value fell 30.3% ($400,000) in the last 12 months to $919,000. The suburb that has grown the least in the last five years is Oriental Bay, in Wellington City. Its average property value of $2.096m is only 1.9% ($39,000) above where it was in April 2018.

The charts below show the Wellington suburbs with lowest and highest rate of annual decline.

How many houses are for sale in Wellington?

As of April 20, 2023 there were 2094 residential properties for sale in Greater Wellington 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 Wellington on OneRoof.co.nz in April was down 5.4% month-on-month, and down 15.2% year-on-year. New listings for the region in the 30 days to April 20, 2023, totalled 516, down 42% year-on-year. The annual rate of decline in new listings was the second worst nationwide, behind Gisborne (down 51%). The nationwide rate of decline was 18%, and 20% in Auckland and 8.8% in Canterbury.

The drop in new listings 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 NZ and the regions.

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

Figures from REINZ show how long properties are taking to sell in the region. In April 2023, the median days to sell for Wellington was 52 days, up four days on the month before and up three days year-on-year. It is also much more than the 10-year average for April of 36 days.

The nationwide figure for March 2023 was 47 days (up from 38 days in April 2022) while in Auckland properties took 43 days to sell (up from 40 days in April 2022) and in Canterbury the figure was 37 days (up from 31 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 Wellington in April 2023 was 460 - down 24% on the month before and down 12% on April 2022.

The year-on-year rate of decline in nationwide property sales was 15%, while in Auckland it was 23% and Canterbury 11%.

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

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

Who's buying in Wellington?

First-home buyers are the biggest buying group in Wellington. Their share of new mortgage registrations in the first quarter of 2023 was 47%, up from 43% in the first quarter of 2022. The share of new mortgage registrations by first-home buyers in Auckland and Canterbury in Q1 this year was 47% and 43% respectively.

New mortgage registrations by investors in Wellington in the first quarter of 2023 was 17.9%, down from 19.2% in the first quarter of 2022. Investors' share of purchases in Auckland and Canterbury in Q1 this year was 23% and 22% respectively.

- Click here to find properties for sale in Greater Wellington