New rating valuations on the way for Christchurch City
Christchurch City property owners will soon receive a Notice of Rating Valuation in the post, containing an updated rating value for their property.
The new rating valuations have been prepared for 185,714 properties on behalf of Christchurch City Council by Quotable Value (QV). They show the city’s total rateable value is now $187,184,401,593, with the land value of those properties now valued at $94,786,698,855.
Rating valuations are usually carried out on all New Zealand properties every three years to help local councils set rates for the following three-year period. They reflect the likely selling price of a property (excluding chattels) at the effective revaluation date, which for Christchurch City is 1 August 2025.
On average, the value of residential housing in Christchurch City has increased 1.87% since the previous effective revaluation date of 1 August 2022. The average home value is now $861,197, while the corresponding average land value has increased 5.75% to $475,384.
QV Senior Consultant and Registered Valuer Emma Tweed who co-led the Christchurch City Revaluation said rating valuations are like a snapshot of the market at a point in time.
“Leading up to the previous rating valuations, which were set in August 2022, the Christchurch property market had experienced considerable post pandemic growth.” she said.
“This time around, the market has shown relative stability, with most residential properties seeing only modest growth or decline, in comparison to the previous revaluation cycle. Some sectors of the market are performing better than others, with dwellings on large sites generally transacting well, while market demand tends to have decreased for two bedroom townhouses, without garaging or parking.”
“The demand for development land in the lead up to the revaluation has been generally strong, with prime development localities seeing considerable increases to land values.” She said.
Commercial property values have had a modest average increase of 3.3%, with land values increasing by 14.7%, while industrial property values have risen by 12.6%, and land values by 27.2% since the last rating valuation in 2022.
Upper South Island Manager, and Christchurch Revaluation Co-Lead Brendon McCurley says “The commercial market is generally performing well, with rising rentals and only marginal cap rate softening. The CBD continues its post-earthquake revival, showing some of the strongest gains in the city, driven by rental growth, falling vacancies, and increasing foot traffic.”
“The industrial sector remains very strong, characterised by rising rents, record-low vacancy, and strong occupier demand.” He said.
Mr McCurley noted that the industrial market has continued to outperform the commercial sector on a national scale — a trend also reflected in Christchurch City.
Since 2022, the average capital value of a lifestyle property has had a small value decrease of -2.10%, to an average value of $1,412,429. Land values have decreased by -4.55% to an average of $825,720.
Christchurch Registered Valuer Jonty Naylor says “There has been some softening to lifestyle values on the Christchurch fringe, where district plan overlays have reduced land-use flexibility and therefore land values for certain locations. However, lifestyle blocks situated close to existing or future residential growth areas continue to command a premium due to the perceived long-term potential for rezoning or development.”
“Banks Peninsula lifestyle properties have been relatively stable, with demand driven by their unique amenity, coastal outlooks, and character, consistently attracting purchasers from outside the region who are motivated by lifestyle, retreat, and high amenity living.”
“The Christchurch rural market is currently showing mixed conditions. Larger pastoral properties across Banks Peninsula and the wider Canterbury hill country have generally softened over the past three years, with productive grazing land sitting back from 2022 revaluation levels amid ongoing economic pressures. In contrast, smaller rural holdings continue to be supported by lifestyle demand and conservation driven purchasers, particularly on the Peninsula, which has helped underpin values in that segment. Overall, market movements have been variable, with differing value shifts, depending on each property’s specific characteristics, location, scale, and level of development” said Mr Naylor.
The effective rating revaluation date of 1 August 2025 has now passed and any changes in the market since then will not be included in the new rating valuations. In many cases, this means a sale price achieved in the market today may differ from the new rating valuation set as at 1 August 2025.
Given the revaluation date of 1 August 2025, the District Plan zoning changes which occurred in the city in September 2025 as part of the opt out of further housing intensification are not reflected in these values. The zonings used for the Christchurch Revaluation are those which were effective as at the date of the revaluation.
The updated rating valuations are independently audited by the Office of the Valuer-General and must meet rigorous quality standards before they are certified. They are not designed to be used as market valuations for raising finance with banks or as insurance valuations.
New rating values will be posted to property owners after 25 February 2026. If owners do not agree with their rating valuation, they have a right to object through the objection process by 10 April 2026.
