New Zealand real estate market — prices, rental yield and trend

• Gross rental yield: 3.85%
• 12-month price change (USD): -2.4%
• Net rental yield: 3.31%
• Transaction cost: 5.5%
• Bubble-risk band: moderate
• Price basis: national average

New Zealand is one of the 314 property markets Glopra tracks.

What a buyer pays in New Zealand

Buying costs — transfer tax or stamp duty, notary, registration and agency — come to about 5.5% of the price here. That is below the 9.5% median across the set, which shortens the time it takes for a purchase to break even.

What it earns

The typical home here lets for about $1,619 a month against a purchase price of $504,654, which is 3.9% gross before tax. Neither figure is quoted per square metre in this market, but both come from the same source, so the ratio between them holds. It ranks 249th of 311 markets by gross yield. Rental income is taxed at 12.2–17.3% — the rate is not a single number here. That is the difference between 3.2% and 3.4% net on the same property. The 3.3% net figure we publish uses 14.1%.

How the tax works. Progressive with no tax-free band: rates start at 10.5% (the 10.5/17.5/30/33/39 scale in force since 1 April 2025) and the 30% bracket begins at NZD 53,500, which gives 12–17% across typical rent levels; there is no flat expense allowance. Non-residents file an IR3NR on the same scale. The interest-limitation and ring-fencing rules are irrelevant when there is no loan and no deduction. Source: ird.govt.nz.

Where the price sits against its own history

Prices are -23.5% over five years and +23.2% over ten in local terms. Today’s level sits 47.9% above the country’s own long-run trend. A gap that size does not have to close, but it is the number to watch. Glopra’s bubble-risk score for New Zealand is 50 out of 100 — moderate risk. Of the 65 markets scored, 44 read higher.

New Zealand house price index, 2016–2025 (2016 = 100)

Rebased to 100 in 2016, the index stands at 147.5 in 2025. The series is in local currency, and the twelve-month numbers above show how much of that a dollar buyer actually keeps.

Who can buy in New Zealand

Foreign purchase banned, with narrow exemptions. That is the rule a foreign buyer meets first, not legal advice — check the current position locally before you commit.

How this figure is built

The price figure for New Zealand is built from asking prices from listings. It was last refreshed on 2026-10-11. We rate our confidence in this market’s data medium: the series is usable, but thinner or less current than our best-covered markets. We recompute every market the same way; a figure that fails our checks is suppressed, not guessed.

Sources: propertybrokers.co.nz · properstar.co.nz · globalpropertyguide.com. Snapshot: 2026-10-11.