{"id":331388,"date":"2026-03-15T22:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T22:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/331388\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T22:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T22:40:13","slug":"the-housing-market-remained-flat-in-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/331388\/","title":{"rendered":"The housing market remained flat in February"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\nThe REINZ&#8217;s February sales volumes and selling prices were unchanged from a year ago\n<\/p>\n<p>The housing market was basically flat in February, with overall sales volumes and selling prices almost unchanged from a year ago and properties taking a little longer to sell.<\/p>\n<p>The Real Estate Institute of NZ reported 6523 residential sales in February, up by just 0.3% compared to February last year.<\/p>\n<p>Prices were similarly stuck in the mud, with the REINZ&#8217;s House Price Index (HPI) unchanged from February last year.<\/p>\n<p>In Auckland, the country&#8217;s largest real estate market market by far, the HPI was down 1.1% compared to February last year &#8211; see the table below for the full regional figures.<\/p>\n<p>While sales volumes and selling prices remained unchanged overall from a year earlier, properties were taking longer to sell, with the average time it takes to sell a property increasing to 56 days in February, up by two days compared to February last year.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Three key forces shaped market activity during February &#8211; weather, interest rates and the approaching election,&#8221; REINZ Chief Executive Lizzy Ryley said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Severe weather disrupted activity in several regions, while the Reserve Bank&#8217;s decision to hold the Official Cash Rate at 2.25% signals that the period of falling interest rates has likely ended,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The confirmation of the November election, alongside renewed policy debate around a potential capital gains tax, is also creating some uncertainty for investors,&#8221; Ryley said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/February 2026_Market Snapshot.jpg\" class=\"drupal-media\" style=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/February 2026_HPI from peak.jpg\" class=\"drupal-media\" style=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Select chart tabs<\/p>\n<p>                          NZ total<br \/>\n                            Northland<br \/>\n                            Auckland<br \/>\n                            Waikato<br \/>\n                            Bay of Plenty<br \/>\n                            Gisborne<br \/>\n                            Hawke&#8217;s Bay<br \/>\n                            Manawatu<br \/>\n                            Taranaki<br \/>\n                            Wellington<br \/>\n                            Tasman<br \/>\n                            Nelson<br \/>\n                            Marlborough<br \/>\n                            West Coast<br \/>\n                            Canterbury<br \/>\n                            Otago<br \/>\n                            Southland<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Select chart tabs<\/p>\n<p>                          NZ total<br \/>\n                            Northland<br \/>\n                            Auckland<br \/>\n                            Waikato<br \/>\n                            Bay of Plenty<br \/>\n                            Gisborne<br \/>\n                            Hawke&#8217;s Bay<br \/>\n                            Manawatu<br \/>\n                            Taranaki<br \/>\n                            Wellington<br \/>\n                            Tasman<br \/>\n                            Nelson<br \/>\n                            Marlborough<br \/>\n                            West Coast<br \/>\n                            Canterbury<br \/>\n                            Otago<br \/>\n                            Southland<\/p>\n<p>Select chart tabs<\/p>\n<p>                          NZ total<br \/>\n                            Northland<br \/>\n                            Auckland<br \/>\n                            Waikato<br \/>\n                            Bay of Plenty<br \/>\n                            Gisborne<br \/>\n                            Hawke&#8217;s Bay<br \/>\n                            Manawatu<br \/>\n                            Taranaki<br \/>\n                            Wellington<br \/>\n                            Tasman<br \/>\n                            Nelson<br \/>\n                            Marlborough<br \/>\n                            West Coast<br \/>\n                            Canterbury<br \/>\n                            Otago<br \/>\n                            Southland<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.interest.co.nz\/supporters\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/what-do-you-think-31.jpg\" style=\"width: 760px; height: 147px;\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The REINZ&#8217;s February sales volumes and selling prices were unchanged from a year ago The housing market was&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-331388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}