Trade Me Property celebrates 20 years of helping Kiwi find a place to call home

Twenty years, seven million listings and plenty of dream-scrolling as Trade Me celebrates two decades of connecting Kiwi buyers and sellers.

The first listing to go live was a home in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland’s Mission Bay with an asking price of just $250,000. Today, the average asking price for a property in the same suburb is a cool $1,928,650, showing just how much has changed since 2005.

Alan Clark, Head of Trade Me Property, said it’s been a privilege to be part of Kiwi’s property journey for two decades.

“We launched Trade Me Property on a Saturday when Helen Clark was Prime Minister, a block of butter was just $3 and Crazy Frog was top of the New Zealand charts. It was that same year that a ‘small’ video streaming platform called YouTube was launched and the Crusaders won the Super Rugby final.

"It’s incredible to look back at that first listing and see how far we’ve all come. For 20 years, we've had a front-row seat to the Kiwi property dream, and it’s a privilege we don’t take for granted.

"We're really proud to be the first place Kiwi look when they're making their next move," Mr Clark said. "We've seen millions of properties listed on our site in that time, and the state of the market has changed quite drastically."

The most viewed Trade Me Property listing of all-time was for a private island and resort in the Cook Islands (cover image). The listing is still onsite with an asking price of $32 million and 750,000 views.

“Coming in at number two was a mansion in Remuera which had 417,000 views. Listed in 2021, with a CV of $24.5 million, a pool, tennis court, wine cellar and four-car garage - it was quite the property.” This was followed by an Old West town in Whanganui (300,000 views), an equestrian’s dream home in Ōtautahi (197,000), and a gothic castle in Epsom (195,000).

"We’ve loved being part of the journey and we're excited for the next 20 years of connecting Kiwi to create the life they want," he added.