Commercial market steady with late-year lift

The commercial property market has experienced varied conditions in 2025, with momentum building in the later months through to October. 

New listings show improving vendor confidence  

New listing levels started the year modestly before climbing to a peak of 431 in March across all asset classes.  

Activity then softened through winter, dipping to a low of 278 new listings in June, before steadily rising again.  

By October, new listings reached 403, signalling renewed vendor confidence—even though this figure remained 3.1% below October 2024. 

Industrial continues to dominate the market in terms of supply, holding the largest share of new listings. However, even this high-performing category experienced a slowdown in October, falling 18.2% year-on-year.

In contrast, commercial land for sale was the only category to record annual growth, surging 77.6% compared with October last year.

Pockets of growth in the regions

Among the main commercial regions, Auckland is lagging, reporting a 6.0% annual decline in new listings. Meanwhile, other key regions saw growth during October, with Bay of Plenty up 33.3%, Waikato up 45.2%, Wellington up 40.0%, and Canterbury up 7.0% year-on-year.

Stock levels point to transactional activity

The total commercial stock has been hovering around 3,300 listings even as new listings increased. This stability indicates that sales are occurring at a consistent enough rate to offset new supply.

Where are commercial prices sitting?

The national average asking price across all commercial categories reached $3.5 million in October, representing a 35.7% decrease year-on-year but a sharp 22.3% increase month-on-month.  

Within the asset classes, industrial buildings led the month-on-month uplift, rising 49.2%, followed closely by office buildings at 44.9%. Investment properties saw a modest 2.9% monthly increase, while commercial land (-9.4%) and retail (-1.6%) both edged down from September levels.

Market buoyed by growing buyer interest

Search interest on realestate.co.nz has been consistently higher throughout 2025 compared with 2024, demonstrating that buyer appetite remains strong even as transactions remain constrained by broader economic conditions.  

In October alone, commercial property seekers were up 20% year-on-year, and enquiries rose 27%, suggesting emerging momentum among prospective purchasers.

The recent run of OCR cuts is expected to boost confidence and stimulate market activity, as the large pool of active searchers look to make decisions ahead of the summer break.  

For media enquiries, please contact:

Hannah Franklin | hannah@realestate.co.nz

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