Auckland property market posts busiest year since 2021

High new listings and sub‑$750k sales reshape 2025

By Mina Martin

07 Jan 2026

Auckland’s housing market notched up its busiest year since 2021, with Barfoot & Thompson reporting its strongest annual trading in four years despite softer prices than in 2024.

“The year ended with a positive flourish for the Auckland property market with property holding on to price gains made in late Spring,” said Peter Thompson (pictured), managing director of Barfoot & Thompson.

“In 2025, we sold more than 11,000 homes, our highest number in a year for four years, at a median price of $954,000 and an average price of $1,109,000.

“While prices across the year were down on those for 2024, the number of properties sold has climbed each year for the past four years and were 9% higher than sales numbers for 2024.

The rebound comes after the Reserve Bank’s aggressive tightening between late 2021 and 2023, followed by around 3.25 percentage points of rate cuts since August 2024, which left borrowers facing noticeably lower mortgage rates by late 2025.

Record new listings and surge in sub‑$750k sales

Thompson said two features defined Auckland’s 2025 trading: record new listings and strong activity at the more affordable end of the market.

“The first was the number of new listings, which at more than 20,000 properties, was the highest number of new listings we have achieved in the past two decades," the Barfoot & Thompson leader said. "Many of them new builds in the form of town houses, apartments and units.

“The second feature was the number of properties that sold for less than $750,000. We sold more than 2700 properties in this price segment in the year, nearly a quarter of all sales.

“The combination of high new listings and rise in the sale of homes for less than $750,000, in the main to first time buyers and investors, acted as a hand break to sales prices across all price segments.”

December holds gains as premium sales stay solid

Despite December’s shorter trading window, activity remained in line with recent years.

“In December our median sale price was $980,000 and the average price $1,140,501. These were marginally ahead of where prices have been for the previous three months," Thompson said.

“Sales numbers in December can be problematic given it allows for only three weeks of trading." In 2025, "we sold 849 homes in December, which is in line with the numbers we have sold in the month of December for the past two years.

“Sales of property in the above $2 million price category remained steady, with 61 sales in December, representing 7% of all sales in the month. This was the highest number of homes sold in this price segment in a December in four years.

“We listed 867 properties in December, and at month end had total listings of 5332. This is the lowest number of listings we have had at month’s end in 2025.”

Rural and lifestyle markets hit three‑year high

Outside the city, rural and lifestyle markets in Auckland and Northland also strengthened.

“The rural and lifestyle markets in the Auckland and Northland regions finished the year with sales for 2025 of $668 million, the highest level in sales in three years," Thompson said. “December’s rural and lifestyle sales hit $49 million, a figure in line with activity in November.”