Ryan Bridge: Why aren't people buying apartments?

I was driving through a street just out of Auckland’s CBD yesterday and saw all these apartments for sale.

New buildings. Many looked empty. Loads of 'for sale' signs.

Why don't people want to buy them? Is it the price?

Ryan Bridge: Labour should pay attention to the housing market

The housing market is once again in the driver's seat for the economy, but it's not heading in the direction we're used to.

Yes, a recovery is underway.

But the brutal truth of 2025 was summed up rather well, I thought, by Sir Bill English in an interview about the current state of play.

Ryan Bridge: The state of the housing market

I've got some numbers for this morning.

QV House Price Index for September quarter: guess what? Going backwards. Auckland leading the fall.

Homes are worth an average of 1.1% less. Auckland's 2.5% less.

Greg Ninness: QV says average housing values declined by just 0.3% last year....

QV says average housing values declined by just 0.3% last year with prices remaining 'relatively static'

Quotable Value (QV) says house prices were "relatively static" last year and are likely to stay that way as the market heads into 2025.

Don Brash: Time to jump back into the housing market?

Over the last couple of months, there have been lots of media reports which have had the effect of encouraging people to jump back into the housing market.

In mid-September, the New Zealand Herald headlined an article on the housing market with “House prices spring back to life”. The opening sentence of the article was “Auckland’s housing market is turning in time for the traditionally busy spring season, with prices climbing in 76 suburbs in the past three months.”

Point of Order: ANZ (while chalking up a $2bn net profit) says it is helping build future prosperity and security for Aotearoa

Australian banks aren’t popular in NZ, right?

They make huge profits, then ship the booty back to the greedy shareholders across the ditch.

That’s the refrain from many straitened Kiwis who nevertheless are disinclined to switch to using NZ-owned banks.

There are other New Zealanders who find the services of Australian banks quite satisfactory, and see the scale of their businesses as a reassuring haven for their savings.

Frank Newman: Auckland turns down and OCR unchanged

Three years after the tide turned on Auckland house prices, the headlines are finally announcing the new reality.

Only those with a vested interest in seeing prices higher are talking the Auckland market up at the moment. Of the independent commentators the optimists are expecting Auckland house prices to remain flat. Those with a less positive disposition are talking in terms of falls like Sydney and Melbourne where the decline from peak to trough is expected to be between 15% to 20% according to the ANZ.

Brian Gaynor: Housing Market – Watch the supply & demand

Residential property prices, like most other prices, are primarily determined by supply and demand. Dwelling consents, bank lending and net migration are three of the main factors determining house prices.