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Property Market – Average section price drops to the lowest in nearly 3 years – Branz

Source: Building Research Association of New Zealand (BRANZ)

House prices are becoming more affordable, with section prices down 15% ($35,000) from their mid-2022 peak. However, the high cost of building continues to make new builds inaccessible for many, according to the latest data from the Building Research Association of New Zealand (BRANZ).

These findings have been drawn from BRANZ’s new data tool BRANZ Build Insights – the first of its kind to bring together reliable economic insights from across the building sector.

The latest quarterly data (January–March 2025) reveals that the average price for a section and new standalone house is down 4.1% to $1,018,000 – $43,000 less than the previous quarter (October–December 2024).

However, this remains substantially more expensive (+$201,000) than buying an existing home.

A driving factor for this is that house build prices have continued to increase in recent years and at nearly twice the rate of inflation. Latest estimates show that building a basic 200m2 home, which would have cost just over $650,000 in mid- 2022, will now cost $777,000. This is nearly a 20% increase over a time when general inflation rose 12%. Existing property prices have increased slightly over the same period.

BRANZ Senior Economist Matt Curtis says: “We’re still experiencing high build costs since the pandemic, from a number of factors, including increased material costs, higher wage costs as well as the general inflation we’re seeing across all sectors.

“But this new data is showing us the first signs of improving affordability in the new-build sector and since 2023, the number of building consents issued for standalone homes has been slowly increasing – growing 5% in the year ending March 2025 compared to the year ending March 2024.

“We’re also seeing house sizes getting smaller to adapt to rising costs. The average size of new standalone houses consented in 2024 was 176m2 compared to 184m2 in 2023,” he says. “Generally, smaller and simpler houses are a good thing – they cost less to build and are also more cost-effective for people to live in, with less energy and maintenance expenses.”

Since 2022, the building and construction industry has faced significant challenges, including a decline in new startups and notable increases in business liquidations (up 37% in the year to February 2025 compared to a year earlier).

However, the sector’s skills pipeline shows a more promising outlook. This has been underscored by a surge in trades training, and carpentry apprenticeships have more than doubled in the past decade, with 21,165 apprentices in 2023 compared to 9,280 in 2014.

BRANZ CEO, Claire Falck explains how the data from BRANZ Build Insights brings together reliable insights from BRANZ and multiple data sources across the building sector into one trusted tool:

“BRANZ Build Insights features data that can help the sector forecast construction demand, track workforce trends and better calculate expected build delivery and consenting times. It’ll also help us understand changes in New Zealanders’ living conditions and the impact of new initiatives across our housing.

“Having all this data in one place means anyone can easily track building system trends and outcomes, which will help support industry best practice, decision-making, and analysis.

“This tool will continue to grow with new reliable data sources being added, allowing a more enriched understanding of the building sector,” says Claire. “It will also be coupled with regular BRANZ economic reports to give sector-leading updates on the status of the built environment, on a regular basis, for the first time.”

Click here for the BRANZ Build Insights Tool

Click here to view the full BRANZ Build Insights Q1 Economic Report

Q1 2025 building and construction sector insights:

Reduced section prices: The average 500m2 section in the March quarter is $240,000, $35,000 less than in mid-2022. There are however significant regional variations: For instance, the average cost of a 500m² section in Auckland is over $505,000, compared to $65,000 in the West Coast.
Reduced overall new build cost: The total average price for a section and new build standalone house is $1,018,000 – $42,000 less than the $1,060,000 in December 2024.
Construction costs outstrip inflation: The cost to build a house has increased by nearly 20% since mid-2022, with an average 200sqm house now costing $777,000. Over the same period when general inflation rose 12%.
Shift in consents: Building consents for standalone houses have increased slightly, whereas consents for attached dwellings have decreased by 17%.
Decline in consent value: The total value of residential building consents has fallen by 13% compared to 2023 after adjusting for inflation.
Growth in construction businesses: There are more construction businesses and workers now than ever before, with 81,891 businesses operating in 2024.
Increase in construction businesses: There are now more construction businesses than ever before – 81,891 in 2024, outpacing the growth rate of all industries in the last decade. However, construction business liquidations were up 37%, and made up 31% of all business liquidations.

Positive long-term outlook: Despite the economic downturn, the long-term outlook remains positive, with more construction businesses being started and fewer ceasing operations compared to other industries.
Surge in apprenticeships: Carpentry apprentices have more than doubled in the past decade, with 21,165 apprentices in 2023 compared to 9,280 in 2014.
Increase in trades training: Participation in trades training has nearly doubled since 2014, with the total number of trainees, apprentices, and tertiary qualification students in construction increasing from 57,000 to 93,000 in 2023.

 

Notes:

About BRANZ Build Insights

BRANZ Build Insights is a new tool created by BRANZ to track building system data.

Bringing together reliable insights from across the building sector into one trusted source, BRANZ Build Insights supports industry best practice, decision-making and analysis.

BRANZ Build Insights can help you:

Gain insights into forecasted demand
Track workforce trends
Better predict build delivery and consenting times
Understand living conditions for New Zealanders
Monitor changes across the building sector
Identify the uptake of innovation and business resilience

 

About the Building Research Association of New Zealand (BRANZ)

BRANZ is a trusted, independent expert in building construction. We provide practical research, testing, quality assurance and expertise to support better buildings.

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Privacy Commissioner issues Compliance Notice to Oranga Tamariki

Source: Office of the Privacy Commissioner

A compliance notice has been issued to Oranga Tamariki for failing to comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act. The Privacy Commissioner has also taken the step of publicly releasing the Compliance Notice itself.
Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster says while Oranga Tamariki has taken positive steps to improve its privacy practices, considerably more improvement is needed.
“Oranga Tamariki has one of the most important roles in New Zealand – to help safeguard the wellbeing of our children, particularly those children in their care. Improving its privacy practices will contribute to the safety and wellbeing of children, their whānau, caregivers, and foster parents
Transparency about the nature of the Compliance Notice requirements is in the public interest and is an important accountability mechanism. We all have a stake in ensuring Oranga Tamariki improves its privacy performance.”
The notice has been issued in response to a series of privacy breaches reported to the Commissioner that have caused serious harm to whānau and tamariki. It relates to the storage and security of personal information, and its unauthorised disclosure.
Under the compliance notice, Oranga Tamariki will need to make privacy improvements including improving staff skills and capability, and strengthening three areas:
1. Information access settings
2. Oversight of service providers
3. Accountability and reporting of privacy incidents.
These improvements will need to be completed by 31 March 2026.
“I consider the notifiable privacy breaches reported to my Office and the systemic privacy issues identified in an independent review to be significant. This is because the sensitivity of the personal information involved and the vulnerability of the individuals the information relates to is at the high end of seriousness”, Mr Webster says.
“Oranga Tamariki currently doesn’t have sufficiently robust systems and practices in place to appropriately protect the personal information it holds, as required under the Privacy Act, and there is ongoing likelihood of further privacy breaches.”
OPC began an investigation into the privacy practices and culture at Oranga Tamariki in 2022, and in May 2023 recommended it commission an independent review of its privacy practice and culture.
“That report was completed in April 2024 and confirmed our concerns about systemic failures in protecting sensitive personal information that Oranga Tamariki holds.
“In response to that review, Oranga Tamariki has taken steps to improve their privacy practices, including undertaking a privacy improvement plan, and this is a positive move towards helping keep sensitive information about the children they care for safe”.
“This is a good step forward. However, there is still a considerable amount of work for Oranga Tamariki to do to improve their privacy practices that goes beyond this plan to address the ongoing risk of further serious privacy breaches resulting in harm to individuals.”
Issuing a Compliance Notice, and publicly releasing it, will ensure Oranga Tamariki takes the steps necessary. “We are all invested in the safety of the children in Oranga Tamariki’s care, and keeping sensitive information about children safe is critical.”
Notes
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Banking Sector – Kiwibank introduces new credit card benefits as Airpoints partnership ends

Source: Kiwibank

  • Kiwibank and Air New Zealand decide to end Airpoints partnership.
  • Regulatory and economic impacts affecting the value and viability of the Kiwibank Airpoints credit card programme.
  • Kiwibank launch enhanced Platinum Visa card with domestic and overseas travel insurance to better meet the needs of more customers.

Over the past decade, the regulatory and economic landscape has changed significantly. Increased costs and changes to interchange fee regulations have impacted the value and viability of the Kiwibank Airpoints credit card reward programme, with further regulatory changes expected.

Mark Stephen, Kiwibank’s Chief Customer Officer – Retail, says:

“Kiwibank prioritises investment that provides value to the greatest number of customers. After a thorough review, we concluded that these products are no longer the most effective way to achieve this.”

“The alternative to closing the products would be to reduce the rate at which points are earned or to pass on increased costs through higher interest rates – options we believe are neither fair nor in customers’ best interests, as it would mean that customers who do not repay their balance in full every month would further subsidise rewards for those who do.

“Based on customer feedback about what they would value in a new card, our enhanced Platinum Visa now offers a range of benefits that reflect this, including a lower interest rate and more interest-free days. For those who enjoy travelling, the card offers international travel insurance and new domestic travel insurance benefits[1].

“We also offer a Zero Visa card, with no annual fee and a competitive 12.90% p.a. interest rate, designed for Kiwi seeking cost-effective banking solutions,” says Mr. Stephen.

To support customers, Kiwibank is providing as much notice as possible. Customers can continue to earn Airpoints until 31 October, and for continuity, customers will move to a Platinum Visa card automatically.

Notes about interchange fees:

In 2022, the Commerce Commission introduced new pricing standards under the Retail Payment Systems Act to reduce interchange fees for transactions. While some of the increased costs were passed on to cardholders, a significant portion was covered by the card issuers.

The Commerce Commission has proposed further reductions to interchange fees and has confirmed their decision will be communicated by 31 July, with implementation on 1 December for Retail Credit or Debit cards issued in New Zealand (and 1 April 2026 for any other card types brought into scope).
Kiwibank supports the goal of the Retail Payment Systems Act to promote competition and efficiency. However, lowering interchange fees as proposed could further reduce the variety of payment options available to consumers and might lead to a less efficient payment system, contrary to the Act's goals.
The proposed interchange fee cap could significantly affect service offerings, especially credit card rewards programmes, which the Commerce Commission has acknowledged as an outcome.

The proposed interchange fee caps also lack sufficient evidence. The Commerce Commission's Draft Decision relies on fee caps from larger regions like Australia, the EU, and the UK. These larger markets benefit from economies of scale, making their costs lower per transaction. Therefore, interchange fees in New Zealand should be higher than in those jurisdictions.

About Kiwibank

Kiwibank is a Purpose-led organisation that has modern, Kiwi values at heart and keeps Kiwi money where it belongs – right here in New Zealand. As a Kiwi bank, with more than a million customers, our trusted experts are focused on supporting Kiwi with their home ownership aspirations and backing local business ambitions, so together we can thrive here in Aotearoa and on the world stage. Kiwibank is the #1 bank in Kantar’s 2024 Corporate Reputation Index and the only bank in the top 20. To find out more about Kiwibank visit www.kiwibank.co.nz