Market Update 25 August 2026: First-Home Buyers Hit a Record Share - What It Means For Property Buyers and Investors

Giving you exclusive insights into the New Zealand property market and keeping you updated with the latest in property investment concepts.

Here's a number that didn't get much attention in the headlines this month, but it's a good sign for anyone watching the property market.

First-home buyers now make up more than 28% of all property purchases in New Zealand - a new record, according to Cotality's latest figures. It's easy to skim past a statistic like that, but it actually tells us a lot about where confidence is building in the market right now, and this update breaks down why.

The Number Behind the Headline

According to Cotality's LJ Hooker Market Overview, first-home buyers claimed more than 28% of market share in the second quarter of 2026 - the highest level on record.

That record didn't come out of nowhere. Earlier this year, first-home buyers were already on a strong run, buying around 24,800 homes over the previous 12 months - the highest annual total since 2021. In some cities, their presence was even more pronounced: in the first quarter of the year, first-home buyers accounted for 37% of all purchases in Wellington and 33% in Hamilton, both well above their long-term averages.

Put simply, first-home buyers haven't just held their ground while the rest of the market has cooled. They've been the one group consistently growing their share, quarter after quarter.

Why This Number Matters More Than It Looks

It would be easy to read this as a story about first-time buyers only. But first-home buyers are also one of the most useful groups to watch if you want a read on the wider market.

They tend to be the most cautious, most finance-conscious buyers out there. Unlike investors or owner-occupiers trading up, first-home buyers generally aren't willing to stretch into a purchase unless the numbers genuinely work for them - affordability, mortgage repayments, and their own job security all have to line up.

When this group is showing up in record numbers, it's usually because the maths has started to make sense again, not because sentiment has simply improved.

What's Driving It

A big part of the answer is affordability. Housing affordability across the country has returned to its long-term average, after four to five years of steady improvement following the post-2022 downturn.

Two things have combined to get there:

• Softer prices. National values remain below where they were a year ago in most centres, which has quietly closed the gap between wages and house prices.

  
  

• Lower mortgage rates than a couple of years ago. While rates have started to tick back up from their recent lows, they remain well below the peaks of 2023 and 2024, easing pressure on what buyers can service.

Together, that's made a real, measurable difference - and it's showing up directly in the buying data, not just in market commentary.

Our Read on What It Signals

Our take: activity like this at the first-home buyer end of the market is often one of the first signs that confidence is starting to rebuild, simply because it's where affordability improves first.

First-home buyers don't need to sell an existing property to buy, and they're the most sensitive to changes in what a mortgage actually costs each month - so they tend to respond to improving conditions before owner-occupiers trading up or investors return in bigger numbers.

That doesn't mean the rest of the market is about to take off. But it is a useful early signal, and it's a good reminder that quiet periods in the market are usually when the groundwork for the next cycle gets laid - well before it shows up in the headline price data.

What This Means for Your Own Position

It's worth remembering that a national statistic like this doesn't apply evenly to everyone.

What matters for your own plans is your own numbers: your income, your existing equity, your deposit, and your borrowing capacity.

That's exactly why it's worth checking where you currently stand, rather than assuming the national picture applies directly to your situation.

In a market where first-home buyers are quietly leading the recovery in confidence, the advantage often comes down to how well-positioned you are to act when the right opportunity comes along. Knowing your numbers now, rather than when you're mid-negotiation, puts you in a stronger spot to move quickly.

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