An overview of the Auckland economy for November 2025, in charts and graphs and with some commentary.

Measures covered: house prices and numbers sold, weekly rents, building consents, employment and unemployment, GDP, business and consumer confidence, retail sales, imports.

Highlights include:

• Business confidence (NZIER QSBO) for the quarter ended September 2025 quarter showed a net 31% of businesses expecting the general business situation to improve over the next three months: similar to the last three quarters, well above pre-Covid levels, but “improve” can include “bad, but less bad than currently”;
• unemployment rate in the September 2025 quarter was 6.1%: similar to June and March, double the 2021 trough, slightly above the 2020-2021 Covid lockdown peaks, similar to most of 2011 to 2015;
• employment in the September 2025 quarter was 1.7% lower than in September 2024 quarter: the fifth quarter in a row of negative annual growth rates despite population growth; among the worst since 2009-2010 following the GFC;
• median house price for the month of September 2025 was $978,000 (in real* dollars: similar to the last four months; similar to September 2024; 37% below 2021’s all-time peak; 7% below September 2015);
• number of houses sold for the year ended September 2025 was 23,610: similar to recent months; trending up since the May 2023 trough; slightly above 2017-2019; 35% below the July 2021 peak;
• average weekly rent for the month of August 2025 was $676 (in real* dollars: similar to the last three months; 2% below a year ago; the same as ten years ago). For the rest of New Zealand, the figure was $561: largely falling since January 2025 (but highly seasonal); 4% below a year ago; the lowest August figure since 2020;
• number of new dwellings consented in the year ended September 2025 was 14,760: rising continuously since April; 7% above a year ago; 33% below the September 2022 peak; 3% below the 2019 pre-Covid peak;
• real* value of new non-residential buildings consented in the year ended September 2025 was $2,389 million: 15% above August; similar to most of 2025; 16% below a year ago; 31% below the 2022 and 2019 peaks; 5% above the 2020 trough;
• real* value of imports by Auckland seaports for the year ended September 2025 was $31.6 billion: gradually rising 4.6% over the last year, still 7% below April 2023, but 19% higher than the 2020 Covid trough. For the rest of New Zealand, the figure was $30.8 billion: similar to the last year, 18% above the 2020 trough, and 26% lower than their 2023 post-Covid rebound peak.

*Note: real dollars/values are after adjusting for the effects of inflation each quarter, so a similar ‘real’ level means that a value rose at a similar rate to inflation.

November 2025

Previous updates. 

February

March 

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

2024

December