New Zealand’s spring property market was supposed to pick up in October. Instead, home sales fell across all 16 regions compared with a year earlier, while buyers had more properties to choose from than in any October since 2014. REINZ October market report
The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand recorded 5,840 sales in October 2026, down 23.5% year on year. The national median sale price was $763,000, down 3.4%, and the median time to sell was 43 days, two days longer than a year earlier.
Fewer new listings, more homes for sale
There were 37,433 properties on the market at the end of October, up 11.4% on a year earlier. Yet new listings fell 4.5% to 11,660. Those two figures explain how buyers can still have more choice even when fewer owners are putting their homes on the market than they did a year ago.
That changes the conversation at an open home. A buyer who can see three comparable houses in the same suburb has less reason to rush into an offer on the first one. For sellers, the price of the house down the road and what similar homes actually sold for may matter more than the national median.
Canterbury and Southland buck the price trend
Sales fell in every region, but median sale prices still rose in several. Southland’s median was up 7.9% to $530,000, while Canterbury’s rose 3.1% to $730,000. In a separate measure, Cotality found that October property values fell 0.7% in Auckland and 0.9% in Wellington, while Christchurch held steady for the month. Cotality October Home Value Index
The Property Noise view
The biggest move in October was in the number of deals getting done. Sales were down nearly a quarter on a year earlier, while the national median sale price was down 3.4%. For a homeowner who needs to move this summer, the question is how much competition their listing faces and how long they can afford to wait.
Are you buying or selling right now? What are you seeing at open homes in your area?