OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan said the latest figures were a positive sign after a couple of years of a flat market.
“The Northland market is really encouraging. You’ve had a bit of a bounce in late 2025 and over summer that have helped.”
Vaughan said Northland property prices were still well below the peaks seen a few years ago.
Northland’s average property value is 9.7% lower than its April 2022 peak of $925,000.
Kaipara is down 6.6% from $1,012,000, Whangārei 15.1% from $986,000, and the Far North 3.5% from $811,000.
“But it’s good momentum and the challenge is can that momentum keep going,” Vaughan said.
OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan.
Northland’s market was performing better than Auckland’s, where values are down 3% year-on-year, he said.
According to Vaughan, Northland was riding a crest of momentum but that could change.
“If there weren’t these economic headwinds we are facing … that positive momentum for Northland would continue but with jitters around the Iran war, rising fuel costs and other issues, we can’t predict what will happen.”
Vaughan said with global uncertainty, the challenge now is whether the market can hold steady rather than grow.
He called the Northland property market interesting for its mix of expensive and inexpensive properties.
“ … You have plenty of properties in the $1 million-plus bracket but many lower end properties, and it’s those lower end sales, with first home buyers having a big say, driving your rises.”
Vaughan said a property at Andersons Cove, between Mangawhai and Langs Beach, had come onto the market and could fetch more than $40 million.
Northland real estate director Tony Grindle, of Bayleys in the North, said his company had seen an upturn in sales, with some record results this year.
He said high commodity prices and the recent Fonterra payout meant the rural sector was performing strongly with good cash flow.
Beef prices are forecast to be near record highs in the 2025/26 season, while global dairy prices surged last year to their highest levels in nearly three years.
Northland dairy farmers are receiving a $200 million windfall from Fonterra’s $4.2 billion sale of its dairy brands.
Grindle said strong rural economic conditions were lifting confidence in the property market.
While Bayleys typically sells higher-end homes, recent months have seen a return of first-home buyers and investors.
Grindle said out-of-town contractors helped drive demand in Dargaville.
Bayleys in the North director Tony Grindle.
“The rural sector has been particularly strong, we have had record value sales in commercial and of course the residential market has certainly had life injected into it.”
He said March was the company’s second-best since 2017, while April was its strongest for sales volume in his 24 years with the company, with 48 contracts written.
Bayleys in North was experiencing good selling conditions in Whangārei and Bay of Islands, Grindle said.
Property numbers
$967,000 – average NZ property value, down 0.3% in 12 months$835,000 – Northland average, up 2.1%$945,000 – Kaipara average, up 0.7%$837,000 – Whangārei average, up 1.5%$783,000 – Far North average up 3.6%3620 – properties sold in Northland in past year