Auckland economic update November 2026

Author:

Ross Wilson

Source:

Auckland Council Social and Economic Research and Evaluation Team

Publication date:

2026

Topics:

Economy

An overview of the Auckland economy for November 2026, in charts and graphs and with some commentary.

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

Highlights include:

median house price for the month of September 2026 was $950,000 (in real* dollars: similar to August; 6% below a year ago; downtrend since November 2023; 41% below 2021 peak; second-lowest since 2014);
number of houses sold for the year ended September 2026 was 23,484: falling since March 2026; rising 28% since the May 2023 trough; 35% below the 2021 peak; above mid-2017 to mid-2020;
average weekly rent for the month of August 2026 was $671 (in real* dollars: 1% above July, but 4% below a year ago; similar now to twelve years ago). For the rest of New Zealand, the figure was $581: 1% above July 2026 (but highly seasonal); same as a year ago; among the lowest levels since 2020;
number of new dwellings consented in the year ended September 2026 was 17,131: slightly below August, but 16% above a year ago; but 22% below the September 2022 peak; 13% above 2019’s pre-Covid-boom level;
real* value of new non-residential buildings consented in the year ended September 2026 was $2,205 million: 7% below August; 10% below a year ago; 38% below 2022 and 2019 peaks; 5% below 2020 trough before the Covid boom; similar to 2016;
real* value of imports by Auckland seaports for the year ended September 2026 was $34.8 billion: slowly rising 11% since October 2024, still 2% below April 2023, but 26% higher than the 2020 Covid trough. For the rest of New Zealand, the figure was $37.7 billion: 2% above August, and up 14% in five months, but 13% below their 2023 post-Covid rebound peak. Since 2018 Auckland has mostly been half or less of the New Zealand total; previously it was mostly more than half.

*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 2026

Previous updates.