An overview of the Auckland economy for August 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:

• real* Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the year ended June 2025 was 1.0% lower than for the year ended June 2024; in the rest of New Zealand, the annual change was 0.6% fall. Both growth rates were: slightly above March 2025, their first improvement (although still negative) since they began falling in mid-2023; similar to their 2020 troughs; below all other periods since 2010;
• real* retail sales for the year ended June 2025 were 2.6% lower than for the year ended June 2024; in the rest of New Zealand, the annual change was a 1.7% fall. Both growth rates continued the improvements of the last several months, but still negative and among the worst since 2009, with Auckland remaining below its 2020 trough, and the rest of New Zealand only slightly above its. Both growth rates had been falling since late 2022;
• unemployment rate for the quarter ended June 2025 was 6.1%: similar to March, mostly rising from 2023 onwards, and worse than during the 2020-2021 Covid lockdowns, but still lower than most of 2009 to 2013;
• number of people employed for the quarter ended June 2025 was 2.3% lower than in June 2024 quarter: the fourth quarter in a row of negative annual growth rates despite population growth, and the worst since 2010;
• median house price for the month of July 2025 was $975,000 (in real* dollars: slightly below most of the last several months; the same as a year ago; similar to ten years ago (2015); 36% below the 2021 peak);
• number of houses sold for the year ended July 2025 was 23,568: similar to the previous month; 29% above the May 2023 trough; similar to 2017-2020; but 35% below the July 2021 peak;
• average weekly rent for the month of June 2025 was $678 (in real* dollars: the lowest-equal since late 2022; similar to nine years ago; below 2016 to mid-2022). For the rest of New Zealand, the figure was $584: similar to June 2025; similar to the last four years (but highly seasonal); 8% above five years ago;
• number of new dwellings consented in the year ended July 2025 was 14,347: similar to June; mostly rising slightly for the previous year; 35% below the September 2022 peak; 5% below the 2019 pre-Covid peak;
• real* value of new non-residential buildings consented in the year ended July 2025 was $2,299 million: slightly below the previous five months; 15% below a year ago; similar to the 2020 trough and the second-lowest since 2016; 34% below the 2022 peak;
• real* value of imports by Auckland seaports for the year ended July 2025 was $31.0 billion: rising slightly over the last several months, still 8% below April 2023, but 18% higher than the 2020 Covid trough. For the rest of New Zealand, the figure was $30.8 billion: similar to the last year, 19% above late 2020, and 25% 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.

September 2025

Previous updates. 

February

March 

April

May

June

July

August

2024

December