Fewer price drops hint at buyers returning to the market
New Zealand’s property market is showing fresh signs of stabilisation, with the share of discounted listings and the value of price cuts both falling to two-year lows in the final quarter of 2025.
Data from realestate.co.nz reveals that just 1,374 listings recorded a price drop in Q4 2025 – only 3% of all properties on the site and the lowest proportion in two years. The total value trimmed from asking prices was $41.3 million, down sharply from the $55 million slashed in Q4 2024, and the smallest quarterly reduction over the same period.
Vanessa Williams (pictured), spokesperson for realestate.co.nz, said the figures suggest the market is moving away from the heavy discounting seen earlier in the cycle.
“While $40 million coming out of the market is still significant, fewer vendors reduced the price of their property last quarter than we’ve seen over the two years prior, an indication that the overall amount trimmed from the market in Q4 is a result not of smaller reductions but by fewer properties needing to reduce their price.
“This indicates that sellers may be starting to price more realistically from the outset, and buyer confidence could be slowly returning. It’s not a full recovery yet, but it could be one of the first signs that conditions are beginning to stabilise.”
Cotality NZ figures also show the wider housing market starting 2026 in low gear, with modest price falls, cheaper mortgages and gradually improving affordability supporting cautious optimism.
On average, vendors who did cut prices in Q4 2025 reduced their asking figure by $30,065. Marlborough recorded the largest average reduction at $50,500, followed by Gisborne at $49,333, with Northland, Wellington, and Coromandel also among the regions seeing the biggest individual discounts.
Williams added that a steady official cash rate is helping to underpin sentiment, with the stable OCR viewed as a potential foundation for a more convincing property market recovery in 2026.
RBNZ’s February decision to hold the OCR at 2.25% and signal easing inflation is reinforcing expectations that housing conditions will gradually firm through 2026.
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