Christchurch values near peak, asking prices at 18-year high — and buyers keep coming
While Auckland and Wellington remain well below their property market peaks, Christchurch is charting a different course, Stuff reported.
New data from Cotality shows average Christchurch values are now just 1.6% below the market peak, a sharp contrast to Wellington at 25% below and Auckland at 23% below. Median property values in the city grew 3% in the year to April 2026, compared with a 3% fall in Auckland and a 0.8% decline nationally.
The average asking price across the wider Canterbury region reached $735,798 in April — an 18-year high, up 3.8% on the prior year — at a time when the national average has been flat for more than three years, according to realestate.co.nz data.
An avalanche of new arrivals
The driver behind the outperformance is largely demographic.
Christchurch real estate agent Nathan Najib describes the flow of people relocating to the city as "an avalanche" — a north-to-south migration that is reshaping housing demand across the South Island's largest city. Figures from realestate.co.nz support that picture: around three-quarters of people searching for Christchurch property on the platform are from outside the region.
That demand is showing up in buyer behaviour. Vanessa Williams, spokesperson for realestate.co.nz, said the city's appeal is rooted in both value and lifestyle.
"There's a real buzz around Canterbury at the moment... Christchurch city is setting the tempo in the market," Williams said. "Many property seekers are looking at options in Canterbury as they can often get more for their dollar than they would in other main centres."
The story is playing out at the individual level too. Buyers who could not get into the Auckland market are finding substantially more purchasing power in Christchurch — larger homes, better locations, and lower prices — while citing commute times, lifestyle, schooling, and infrastructure investment as additional drawcards.
First-home buyers and investors both active
Nathan Miglani, Squirrel's managing adviser for the South Island, said sentiment has shifted decisively.
"Sales volumes have improved… First-home buyers remain active, and we continue to see strong migration into Christchurch from across the rest of the country," Miglani said.
The numbers support that reading. Squirrel's April 2026 Canterbury market update recorded the regional median house price at $720,000, up 2.1% year-on-year, with the Christchurch City House Price Index up 3.9% annually.
Optimism about the market, Miglani added, is the highest it has been in a decade.
One nuance worth noting for brokers is uneven performance within the market. Established homes in well-located suburbs are performing strongly, while parts of the townhouse segment have been slower — with some owners selling below what they paid at the peak.
Miglani noted that "quality developments at the right price point continue to transact," suggesting the divergence is as much about product and pricing as location.
Kelvin Davidson, chief property economist at Cotality, described Christchurch as showing "resilience" in house price growth — a divergence from the national trend that, combined with continuing internal migration, is likely to keep the city on brokers' radar well into 2026.
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