The 6% drop that mostly didn't happen

Kingsland and Eden Terrace apartments. 158 settled sales, August 2024 to July 2026.

Median price per square metre across both suburbs fell 6.3% between August 2024 and July 2026, from $11,360 to $10,646. If you own an apartment here, that figure almost certainly overstates what happened to yours though.

Most of the fall is a change in what sold rather than a change in what things are worth. Newer apartments made up 50% of sales in the first year and 44% in the second, and newer apartments sell for a lot more per square metre. Hold the mix of building ages steady and the drop is only 1.6%.

Split it by the decade the building was constructed and it is steadier again. Apartments from the 2020s were down 1.06% and the 2010s down 1.19%. The 1990s buildings went up 1.61%, some of these older ones were renovated which might have something to do with that too.

Average price per square metre by building age

Settled sales sourced from Property Guru / Cotality. Apartments only, Kingsland and Eden Terrace, 158 sales. Figures are averages. The 1990-1999 and 2010-2019 columns for 2025/26 rest on 9 and 10 sales.

And the gap between the decades:

There is very little between 1990s and 2000s stock, then a 39% jump at 2010 and only 9% again after 2020. That gap is about construction standards and improvements made to the building code after the 2000s rather than age on its own. The 2000-2009 group was the only one to soften much, down 4.24%. Everything else held.

More sales above CV than you would expect

Across both suburbs 51.9% of sales settled at or above capital value. In buildings put up before 2010 that rises to 57.8%, and the typical sale in those buildings landed 1.9% above CV.

There were 158 sales across 44 different buildings over the two years, roughly six or seven a month. Well presented apartments are still finding buyers and apartments are still selling.

Three buildings that beat their decade

19 Fleet Street, Eden Terrace (built 1994). Eight sales over the two years, seven of them 75 square metre apartments, which makes it the most directly comparable run of sales in either suburb. Those seven went $720,000 in August 2024, then $719,000, $730,000, $731,000, $735,000, $749,000, and $755,000 by May 2026. A 4.9% lift while the wider market softened, and six of the building's eight sales settled above CV.

One thing the sales data cannot show you: a good number of the apartments in this building have been refurbished internally. That is my read on why it has held up the way it has while comparable 1990s stock stayed flat, and it is worth bearing in mind if you are weighing up whether to spend money before you sell.

14 Exmouth Street (Basque Central), Eden Terrace (built 2005). I flagged in an earlier update that Basque Central was selling closer to buildings a decade newer, and that has held. Three sales this period: 4D at $800,000 in November 2024 ($11,429/m²), 4A at $795,000 in December 2024 ($11,357/m²), and GD at $650,000 in July 2025 ($13,000/m² on 50 square metres). The building averaged $11,929/m², which is 25.2% ahead of the 2000-2009 average.

8 Central Road, Kingsland (built 2017). Four sales averaging $15,303/m², 15.4% ahead of its own 2010-2019 cohort and higher than most new build stock in either suburb. 402 made $1,380,000 in December 2024 on 84 square metres, and 202 and 403 both made $1,340,000 in April 2025.

What these three share is outlook, car parking, a body corporate on top of its maintenance, and interiors that have been kept up to date. None of that shows in a decade average, and all of it is where the difference between a good result and an average one is being made.

Two things worth knowing if you are considering selling

The City Rail Link is tipped to open Sunday 13 September, with Maungawhau (Mt Eden) station on the edge of this catchment. Trains will run through to the city rather than terminating at Britomart. That is about six weeks ahead of the spring listing build up, which makes the timing of a spring campaign worth thinking about now.

The Reserve Bank lifted the OCR to 2.50% on 8 July, the first rise after a long run of cuts, and has signalled more may follow. The practical effect is that buyers who were holding out for cheaper money have less reason to keep waiting and we can already see this energy coming back into the market. REINZ had first home buyers, uprisers and developers all active through July and I believe this will only increase moving towards spring.

Get in touch

As always, if you have questions about the market, want an updated appraisal of your apartment with no obligation, or want to know where to spend and where not to spend before selling, give me a call for a confidential chat.

I can also send you every recorded sale in your own building going back well beyond the two years covered here, with floor areas, dates and prices per square metre. Get in touch with your address and I will put it together.

Renting it out rather than selling?

Not everyone reading this is thinking about selling. If you are weighing up holding your apartment and renting it out, or you already have a tenant and are not happy with how the property is being managed, get in touch.

Apartments need managing differently to houses. Body corporate rules, building access, parking allocation and what tenants in this catchment actually look for are all specific to these buildings. My pick is that the City Rail Link will show up in tenant demand around Maungawhau well before it shows up in sale prices.

If you would like a straight view on what your apartment would rent for and what management would cost, get in touch. Same as the appraisal, no obligation.

Some of the properties we manage: kellands.co.nz/rentals

Settled apartment sales in Kingsland and Eden Terrace, 1 August 2024 to 24 July 2026, sourced from REINZ via Cotality / Property Guru. 158 sales across 44 buildings, from a 172 sale raw export. Excluded: 8 sales at 435 New North Road (building with a major remediation programme pending), 2 sales that were not arm's length transfers, 1 part share transfer and 3 sales with undisclosed prices. National and Auckland figures from the REINZ Monthly Property Report, July 2026. OCR figures from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, 8 July 2026. Capital values are Auckland Council rating valuations. General market information only, not financial advice.