The survey suggests Canterbury is one of the areas where the housing market is strengthening. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
The country's regional housing markets are bouncing back faster than some of the main centres.
CBRE's Q3 2025 Residential Valuer Insights survey which drew on responses from CBRE valuers from Whangārei to Invercargill.
CBRE residential valuation and advisory national director Craig Russell said Southland, Canterbury and Waikato were strengthening on both demand and value growth predictions, while sentiment in Auckland and Wellington remained relatively soft.
"The number of valuers reporting strong demand in their markets has tripled compared with the previous survey in Q2, however some centres including Auckland and Wellington have reported demand reducing to more of a buyers' market dynamic in Q3."
All respondents in Southland reported a strong market, while Canterbury Valuers reported moderate to strong demand trends.
Waikato, Tauranga and Otago were also showing positive signs, with moderate demand reported.
While in Auckland, respondents felt current demand conditions were soft and around 80 percent of people in Wellington reported the same.
First home buyers continued to lead market demand, and Russell said this indicated the shift towards better housing affordability as interest rates fall.
"As with our Q2 survey, over 90 percent of valuers reported first home buyers as the most active in their area. This trend has been dominant since the last market peak, which hopefully is a sign of an improvement in New Zealand's long-term housing unaffordability."
Valuers were also surveyed on value growth expectations, and almost half expected house prices in their area to increase by up to 5 percent in the next 12 months.
Unlike in the Q1 and Q2 surveys, no valuers expected prices to fall in their markets over the coming year, indicating a slight improvement in overall optimism.
The standout regions included Canterbury, Rotorua and Kāpiti, where respondents expected house prices to increase in value.
CBRE research director Tamba Carleton said improving borrowing conditions were starting to flow through sentiment indicators.
"Declining interest rates are supporting enquiry and the absence of valuers expecting price falls over the next 12 months marks a significant change in sentiment from earlier this year."
Carleton said results also showed a big jump in the proportion of valuers who expect growth in listing supply, from 33 percent last quarter to 66 percent.
"Although the usual short term springtime lift in listing volumes is expected, it appears further growth is also anticipated beyond this, with most valuers predicting the supply of properties for sale in their region to increase over the next year."
Carleton said recently-renovated properties once again had the strongest increase in demand.
"People prefer ready to occupy options in the current market, where construction costs remain high. Well presented properties that don't need a lot of work have a clear edge over those that require significant investment into renovations."
Other sectoral contrasts between the Q3 survey and earlier in 2025 include lifestyle property values, which are expected to be more stable going forward than in previous quarters.
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