Image: RNZNew Zealand's housing market is a "tale of two islands", one economist says - as the fortunes of sellers and house hunters in the South Island rapidly diverge from those of their northern counterparts. National median prices were up 0.4 percent between January 2025 and last month to a median $753,106. "The North Island market, if you put all those parts of the country together, is operating at quite a different pace from the south. "The correction in national house prices ended in April 2023. "If you look at house prices, we've got a projection that we get a national average rise this year of 5 percent.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 16, 2026 08:11 UTC