Source: Quotable Value
8 October 2025 – Upper Hutt City property owners will soon receive a Notice of Rating Valuation in the post with an updated rating value for their property.
The new rating valuations have been prepared for 18,474 properties on behalf of Upper Hutt City Council by Quotable Value (QV). They show the total rateable value for the district is now $16,677,365,250 with the land value of those properties now valued at $8,484,337,050 .
Rating valuations are usually carried out on all New Zealand properties every three years to help local councils set rates for the following three-year period. They reflect the likely selling price of a property (not including chattels) at the effective revaluation date, which was 1 June 2025.
On average, the value of residential housing in Upper Hutt city has decreased 9.3% since the previous revaluation effective revaluation date of 1 July 2022. The average home value is now $776,000, while the corresponding average land value has decreased 18.2% to $438,000.
QV Senior Consultant and Registered Valuer Jack Whiteman said rating valuations are like a snapshot of the market at a point in time. “When the previous rating valuations were set in July 2022, the local property market was coming off a period of exceptional post-pandemic growth.”
“In response to that rapid escalation and rising inflation, the Reserve Bank substantially lifted the official cash rate (OCR) to rein in spending and bring inflation under control. The resulting spike in interest rates sharply reduced borrowing power and dampened buyer demand,” he said.
“Since then, the higher prices and tighter lending conditions made it more difficult for first-home buyers to enter the market, while decreasing values and reduced yields curbed investor activity. The Wellington market – Upper Hutt included – experienced some of the strongest value growth in the country during the boom and has since undergone one of the sharpest corrections.”
“Fast forward to June 2025, the market in Upper Hutt has been relatively subdued. While the OCR has recently seen a few cuts and interest rates are trending down again, other significant economic headwinds continue to deter growth. Job insecurity, cost-of-living pressures, and widespread public-sector cuts have led to rising unemployment and an outflow of people from the region, weighing heavily on household confidence. Combined with ongoing global uncertainty and weaker buyer sentiment, what was a sellers’ market in early 2022 has clearly shifted to a buyers’ market in 2025.”
He said housing that was newer or of higher quality had retained its value slightly better – though all suburbs saw the average capital value (CV) drop between 6.8% and 18.5% over the past three years.
“Upper Hutt has experienced a fairly homogenous decrease in value across all suburbs compared to where things sat three years ago. Since our last revaluation in 2022, there has been a notable increase in supply particularly of older or entry level stock. Similar to other areas of the Wellington region, newer or modernised stock tends to be holding up well compared to older housing stock,” Mr Whiteman added.
Meanwhile, many of the same economic factors such as cost of living and public sector job cuts have also impacted the commercial sector.
QV Wellington manager and Registered Valuer Hoa Quan said, “Commercial property values have decreased by 4.5%, and while property values in the industrial sector have increased by 9.7% since the city’s last rating valuation in 2022.”
“The industrial sector is benefiting from low vacancy level within the Wellington region. Commercial land values have decreased by 13%. While industrial land values have increased by 13.5%.
Mr Quan said the industrial market has compared relatively better to commercial on a national scale for some time now – a trend that has continued in Upper Hutt City.
Since 2022, the average capital value of a lifestyle property has decreased by 16.5% to $1,185,000, while the corresponding land value for a lifestyle property decreased by 20.1% to $600,000.
“Lifestyle property makes up a modest part of the Upper Hutt City market, with 1219 lifestyle properties. This sector of the market has followed a similar trend as the residential with prices easing back from the peak of 2021/2022 market. The sales numbers in 2025 have reduced significantly since 2023/2024”
Mr Quan said there were limited true rural properties in the city with less than 70 properties in total. Of these, forestry properties had performed relativity better overall, down only 16% in three years.
The effective rating revaluation date of 1 June 2025 has now passed and any changes in the market since then will not be included in the new rating valuations. In many cases, this means a sale price achieved in the market today may be different to the new rating valuation set as at 1 June 2025.
The updated rating valuations are independently audited by the Office of the Valuer General and need to meet rigorous quality standards before the new rating valuations are certified. They are not designed to be used as market valuations for raising finance with banks or as insurance valuations.
