Property Market

5 min read

What's happening with Manawatu house prices?

Council area of Manawatu-Wanganui

Explore Manawatu's property market for the latest trends, house prices, market cycles, rental yields, and top investment suburbs
Ed McKnight

Author: Ed McKnight

Our Resident Economist, with a GradDipEcon and over five years at Opes Partners, is a trusted contributor to NZ Property Investor, Informed Investor, Stuff, Business Desk, and OneRoof.

Reviewed by: Laine Moger

Journalist and Property Educator with six years of experience, holds a Bachelor of Communication (Honours) from Massey University.

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What's happening to Manawatu house prices?

The average price of a Manawatu property is $615,447 (CoreLogic, June 2024).

Manawatu house prices are down 6.38% over the last three months (REINZ). And they are 1.22% down over the last 12 months.

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Quick Facts

  • The average price of a Manawatu property is $615,447 (CoreLogic, September 2024)
  • Over the last 3 months property prices in Manawatu have gone down 6.38%
  • Manawatu property prices increased 6.76% per year (on average) in the 20 years between September 2004 - September 2024 (REINZ)
  • The average rent in Manawatu is $550 per week (Tenancy Services, April 2024)

How are Manawatu property prices changing?

Manawatu house prices soared after the Covid-19 pandemic began. House prices started out 33% below the eventual peak of the market.

However, after that peak in October 2021, house prices fell 19.14% before bottoming out in July 2023.

Today, Manawatu house prices are down 17.94% compared to their peak. That means prices have risen 1.48% since the bottom of the market.

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Where is Manawatu in its property cycle?

At the absolute bottom of its property cycle, Manawatu was 23.25% undervalued.

Today, property prices in Manawatu are overvalued 9.66%.

That suggests there is a selling opportunity in Manawatu.

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Manawatu suburb prices

I track the value of 6 suburbs in Manawatu. The most expensive suburb is Halcombe, which has an average house value of $668,450. While the most affordable suburb is Tangimoana, which has an average house value of $397,400.

I track the value of just 1 suburb in Manawatu. It's called Tangimoana and you can see how the average property value is changing in the graph below.

I track the value of 6 suburbs in Manawatu. The most expensive suburb is Halcombe, which has an average house value of $668,450. While the most affordable suburb is Tangimoana, which has an average house value of $397,400.

Over the last 24 months of all Manawatu suburbs (June 2022 - June 2024, Rongotea had the slowest-falling house prices. They have gone down -4.69% over that period.

The suburb that fell the fastest over that period was Halcombe. Property values in this suburb fell by 9.06% over those 2 years.

What is the Manawatu rental market like?

Here's how rents are changing in Manawatu. Over the last four years (April 2020 - April 2024) the median rent has gone up $145 a week. That's 7.95% a year (on average).

Over the last 12 months, rents have gone up. They are up 0.00% ($ a week) year on year.

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Are properties selling above or below CV in Manawatu?

One of the most common questions I get asked is: “Ed, are properties selling above or below their Capital Value (CV)?”

Some call it the RV (Rateable Value) or GV (Government Value).

Why do people care? Well, if you go on TradeMe (or another website), you’ll almost always see the council’s valuation for the property. So even if the seller hasn't advertised a price, you can get a feel for what the property might sell for.

This table shows whether the average property is selling above or below CV across Manawatu-Wanganui.

Other property markets to look into

If you found this article useful, then you might also like our analyses on the other property markets in New Zealand. You can read all about the Manawatu-Wanganui property market here.