Wednesday, 23 April 2025 – More than $63 million was trimmed from asking prices across New Zealand in the first quarter of 2025. New data from realestate.co.nz shows a total of $63,044,313 in price reductions – down slightly from $69,610,914 million in quarter one of 2024 – as vendors adjusted prices to meet the market.
Vanessa Williams, spokesperson for realestate.co.nz, says vendors are pricing their properties to find the right buyer:
“Nationally, the average asking price has been trending downward over the past year, and stock levels are at decade-highs. We’re starting to see sellers come to market with more realistic expectations from the outset, which reduces the need for major price cuts later on.”
The data compares the original asking price of a property when it was first listed on realestate.co.nz with the price when it was sold or withdrawn. While it doesn’t reflect the final sale price, it indicates how much vendors were willing to adjust their expectations to align with market demand.
Regionally, the biggest total price drops were in Auckland (down $9,823,100), Waikato (down $7,013,100), and Wellington (down $5,928,009).
“All up, that’s millions of dollars no longer circulating in the market. Buyers aren’t paying it, and sellers aren’t receiving it.”
Williams notes that slightly more listings were discounted this year than last. 1,686 properties had their asking prices reduced in Q1 2025, up from 1,624 in Q1 2024.
Auckland leads with highest average drop per listing of nearly $60k
Nationally, sellers who adjusted their asking prices reduced them on average by $37,393 per listing. But the biggest average price drops per listing were in Auckland (down $59,175), Coromandel (down $58,602), and Wellington (down $54,385).
At the other end of the scale, the smallest average price drop per listing was in Wairarapa, where vendors reduced an average of $24,346 from their asking prices. This was closely followed by Otago (down $26,220) and Hawke’s Bay (down $26,490).
Williams notes that these are helpful benchmarks for buyers and sellers:
“For sellers, it offers a realistic view of how much they may need to negotiate. For buyers, it can give a sense of how much wriggle room might be available when making an offer.”
She explains that high stock levels and a slower market give both parties time to negotiate and reach a fair deal.
$600k off? The listings with the biggest price drops
The five biggest price drops in Q1 2025 were all properties with premium price tags, shedding from $300,000 to more than $600,000 from their original asking prices.
Taking out the top spot for the steepest price drop was a home in Auckland, which dropped by $604,500—from $4,899,500 to $4,295,000.
A Queenstown property followed, down $400,000 (from $3,900,000 to $3,500,000). Meanwhile, a Northland property fell $360,000 – a drop of over one-third from its original $950,000 listing to $590,000.
Properties in Mount Maunganui and Whitianga rounded out the top five, dropping by $346,000 and $300,000 respectively.
“At the peak of the market in 2022, it wasn’t unusual for properties to sell above the asking price. What we’re seeing now is a very different phase—one where sellers are having to meet buyers where they are,” says Williams.
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Glossary of terms:
Asking price drop is the difference between a property’s original asking price when it was first listed on realestate.co.nz and the price when it was sold or withdrawn. This figure does not reflect the final sale price but indicates how much a vendor adjusted their price expectations to meet market demand.
Total Price Drop is the combined dollar amount by which asking prices were reduced across all discounted listings in a region or nationally during the reporting period.
Average price drop per listing is calculated by dividing the total amount discounted in a region by the number of listings that reduced their asking price in that region.
Listings That Dropped Prices is the number of individual property listings that had their asking prices reduced at least once during the reporting period. This shows how widespread vendor discounting was in that timeframe.
Total Listings is the total number of property listings that appeared on realestate.co.nz in the reporting period, whether they had price reductions or not. This gives context to the overall activity and supply in the market.
Average asking price (AAP) is neither a valuation nor the sale price. It is an indication of current market sentiment. Statistically, asking prices tend to correlate closely with the sales prices recorded in future months when those properties are sold. As it looks at different data, average asking prices may differ from recorded sales data released simultaneously.
