An overview of the Auckland economy for April 2025, in charts and graphs and with some commentary.

Measures covered: house prices and numbers sold, weekly rents, building consents, employment and unemployment, GDP, business and consumer confidence, retail sales, imports.

Highlights include:

• median house price for the month of February 2025 was $1,010,000 (in real* dollars: same as nine years ago (February 2016); similar to recent months; 5% lower than a year ago; 33% below the 2021 peak);
• number of houses sold for the year ended February 2025 was 22,027: rising continuously for five months, 20% above the May 2023 trough, similar to 2017-2020, but 39% below the July 2021 peak;
• average weekly rent for the month of January 2025 was $698 (in real* dollars: above recent months, but similar to one and two years ago; below most of 2017 to 2022). For the rest of New Zealand, the figure was $652: rising due to seasonality, but above last January to reach a new record high;
• number of new dwellings consented in the year ended February 2025 was 13,773: slightly above the July 2024 turning point; 37% below the September 2022 peak; 9% below the 2019 pre-Covid peak;
• real* value of new non-residential buildings consented in the year ended February 2025 was $2,338 million: falling continuously since June; 24% below a year ago; lowest since the 2020 trough and second-lowest since 2016; 32% below the 2022 peak;
• real* value of imports by Auckland seaports for the year ended February 2025 was $29.9 billion, which was 4% lower than the year ended February 2024, but 15% higher than the 2020 Covid trough. For the rest of New Zealand, the figure was $30.7 billion: 5% lower than a year ago, and 25% lower than their 2023 post-Covid rebound peak. For most of 2024, import values for Auckland and the rest of New Zealand were similar;
• consumer confidence (Westpac McDermott Miller Index) for the March 2025 quarter was 91.3: mid-range for 2020-2024, but below all of 2009 to 2019. A score of greater than 100 shows more optimism than pessimism

*Note: real dollars/values are after adjusting for the effects of inflation each quarter, so a similar ‘real’ level means that a value rose at a similar rate to inflation.

April 2025

Previous updates. 

February

March 

2024

November

December