Nick Goodall

We'll sort of get to the new year and how things have played out.

So Diego, do you mind kicking us off with our largest centre, with Auckland, coming off a pretty prolonged downturn and then plateau of values.

Did things feel like they were getting better prior to the sort of holiday period kicking in last year?

yeah no i think i think that's fair and yeah totally agree with those false little upturns right maybe that's the difference within the cargo james like what is happening down south like have we just seen some of those growth phases actually persist what's the vibe like down there why have those invocable values held up so much better than elsewhere to this point of even increasing through last year i think it was one of the ones closest to the top for growth in 2025.

Yeah, I think you've nailed on the two key factors that we've talked about for a while now in the research team, which is how's the economy going locally?

And then where is that balance between listed supply and that demand?

And as you said, supply hasn't held up quite as well.

So there's a bit more pressure on those buyers to actually get deals done rather than be able to sit on their hands like they have been able to in the likes of Wellington and Auckland.

tom i know you're not an agent you're not necessarily on the ground every day like these fellas are but you're a wellington boy um you know have you what have you heard about that wellington market seeing as you're seeing as your your exist in that market i suppose having a house there yeah look it feels like maybe wellington has similar characteristics to auckland but there's maybe a little bit out of sync for for why i think we've got a housing market that's been flat or just that touch on the negative side

doesn't always feel great but you know the the reduction is also kind of flat as well if you look at it over a year or over a couple of years it's it's not really moving much but significantly down from that peak yeah exactly even further than the orca market right and i think when we talk about i don't know hopeful optimism um around the country i think that hopeful optimism in wellington becomes a bit stronger you know we keep trying to will ourselves out of this difficult period or out of this decline and flat patch

but i think it'll take a little bit longer and you know obviously it's talked all the time about government being based here and such a significant presence of the job market but it is the large corporates too right like we've seen less hiring we've seen big restructures it's all of that and that's affecting auckland too so i do think it comes back to the other factor you know is that job market that confidence isn't there people aren't moving house and and that's just held back that market even further but you know when you bring in that optimism it's like well once that does come back confidence and job market and economy

You know, there's probably some pent up demand to come from those potential movers too.

So, yeah, look, there's definitely some hope there.

I think that's what really comes through in the report is that there's still expectation that things improve.

It's just it's improving off a pretty low base, particularly in those larger centres, whereas Invercargill's had a decent period of it.

And as you said, James, not likely to change too much.

I think tied into all of this, we haven't even talked about the other key factor, which is interest rates.

You know, for many people, if you're buying a house, the large, large majority are getting a mortgage to get that property.

So we have to talk about interest rate expectations.

And I think this is where I really want to hone in on your conversations that you might have had with people.