🏷️ Your new RV might not mean what you think
Autumn is creeping in — the mornings are cooler, the light is softer, and the market is giving us plenty to talk about this month. Here's your March update.
🏷 New rateable values — what they actually mean
The city just received new rateable values — and honestly, a lot of them don't stack up.
RVs are a blunt instrument. They're generated through mass modelling, lag the actual market by years, and carry no weight in a real sale. A property we recently sold on Opawa Road had a 2022 RV of $860,000. The new RV dropped to $765,000. It sold for $910,000.
If your new RV has left you scratching your head, get in touch. I can give you a real-world read on where your property actually sits.
🔍 Market snapshot – February 2026
Christchurch City is the standout this month — properties selling in a median of 34 days, down 13% year-on-year, with search activity up 23%. Selwyn and Waimakariri are taking longer to move and prices in both districts remain softer year-on-year, though buyer interest is still solid.
📍 Christchurch City
🏷 Median sale price: $735K (↑ 3.5% YoY)
📈 Search activity: 8.82M (↑ 23% YoY)
🆕 New listings: 1,116 (↓ 1% YoY)
⏱ Median days to sell: 34 (↓ 13% YoY)
📍 Selwyn District
🏷 Median sale price: $780K (↓ 2.3% YoY)
📈 Search activity: 645K (↑ 14% YoY)
🆕 New listings: 400 (↑ 22% YoY)
⏱ Median days to sell: 54 (↑ 11% YoY)
📍 Waimakariri District
🏷 Median sale price: $735K (↑ 3.5% YoY)
📈 Search activity: 767K (↑ 23% YoY)
🆕 New listings: 223 (↑ 2% YoY)
⏱ Median days to sell: 60 (↑ 16% YoY)
REINZ Property Report February & Trademe Onehub Statistics
📈 What's ahead for the market?
With fuel prices climbing and uncertainty in the Middle East, a lot of people are asking what this means for property.
History offers some reassurance. During the oil shocks of the 1970s, New Zealand saw serious inflation and mortgage rates climb into the high teens. Property values didn't collapse. People moved into hard assets precisely because everything else felt uncertain — land and bricks held their value when paper didn't.
What's different this time is that central banks have become more sophisticated. Fuel-driven inflation is a supply shock, not an overheating economy. Hiking rates doesn't make oil cheaper, and there's growing recognition that blunt rate increases in response to supply-side inflation can do more harm than good. If the RBNZ takes that view, borrowing costs may not spike the way people fear.
The headlines will be noisy. But for Christchurch buyers and sellers, the underlying conditions look more stable than the news cycle suggests.
🎙 Dan on RNZ
Most people who've bought or sold with us will know Dan Pengelly — he's our auctioneer, and my partner. Before he was calling bids, Dan spent 20+ years in theatre as a performer, director, and artistic director of both The Court Theatre and Centrepoint Theatre.
He recently joined RNZ's Culture 101 to talk about what improv, storytelling, and selling houses have in common. It's a genuinely interesting listen — particularly if you've ever wondered what's actually going on in the auction room.
Listen Here
📍 Come find us — Richmond Gala, Saturday 28 March
We'll be at the Richmond Gala this Saturday 28 March — come say hello!
It's a great community day centred around Avebury House and the Richmond Community Garden, running from Vogel Street through to Evelyn Couzins Avenue. Stallholders, food trucks, live music, and Devonshire Tea inside the historic house.
We're running a kids' activity on the day — help us create a neighbourhood, and name that neighbourhood to enter the draw to win a $150 petrol voucher.
- 10.00am start
- Free to attend
- Avebury House, 9 Evelyn Couzins Avenue
🤔 Selling soon?
Let’s build your plan.
— Caleb, Jonathan, Allanah and Jack
