Kerry Buttler and Reece McVinnie followed all the rules when they invested in two Auckland micro apartments in 2018.
They went to property investor talks, engaged an expert agent and carefully weighed up the costs versus income.
"We were a little bit late to the game really," says McVinnie. "Really it was because we discovered that we were being a bit lazy with our money. Very good savers and so on, but not actually good investors."
When they recently sold the property after seven months on the market they lost more than seven percent of the price they paid.
They sold into a market at a time where the average asking price had fallen below $1 million for the first time in six years.
Would they do it all again?
"Even knowing what we know, yes," says McVinnie. "It's just that we got caught. You know, a massive market correction, and it doesn't really look like it's going to change."
The Detail talked to buyers and sellers in Auckland's depressed market, and compared it with property trends in the South Island.
"So North Island and the South Island are very much going their separate ways," says Owen Vaughan, editor of NZME's property publication, OneRoof.
"South Island is ticking along like a normal housing market. Like Christchurch, it's got a vibe to it, but its houses are kind of selling well, but the prices aren't astronomical."
Vaughan says a lot of people blame the flood of cheap, badly built townhouses for Auckland's property slump.
"Cotality (property experts) just recently did research into townhouses. Now, there's a widely held belief that all the stock on the market that isn't selling are crappy townhouses; or townhouses are to blame for Auckland's malaise.
"What they found was that while house prices for townhouses, new build stock, have come down, they haven't come down any sharper than normal housing stock. So to blame Auckland's woes on the proliferation of townhouses that nobody wants isn't really the case. It's just there isn't that huge buyer pool."
Engineer Nathan Brown is steering clear of townhouses in his search for his first home in central Auckland. He tells The Detail he's confident he'll find his dream home within his budget of $1.25 million.
"I've got AI to just kind of keep an eye out on all the websites which go up, and I've told it what I want, and what locations, and what kind of price range. And it will tell me every morning what's popped up."
The 28-year-old says he's been saving nearly all his life for his first home, still lives with his parents and has worked lots of overnight and weekend shifts to save enough money.
"I feel like it's just part of it is a good goal to work towards. Keep me focused at work, keep my eyes on the prize, but also it just kind of feels like a sense of security, like something, once you've got your name on it, it's yours."
Cramped townhouses are also off Briana Juretich-Greig's search list. She and her partner Tom have about $850,000 to buy their first home in Auckland but it might not be her quintessential Kiwi dream home.
"The reality is maybe still two bedrooms or three bedrooms, maybe a smaller little section, not the huge backyard. We've been to a few open homes where you can't have it all."
Despite the lower prices Juretich-Greig says they're in no hurry and she's learnt a lot during the house hunt.
"For example, we went into a home in New Lynn that I really liked, had good bones, thought this could be good, you know, do a bit of a facelift. So we brought a building inspector to come and have a look.
"He had his moisture meter out on the walls and said, there's just moisture in all of these walls ... he's like, do not buy this house."
The Detail also meets Richard, whose Auckland family home is on the market for a second time in a few months, but who is unfazed by the ongoing slump in prices.
"Yeah, I think the market at the moment has sort of changed quite a bit, and spring's good, and all the flowers are looking good. So just want our jasmine to come out now, and I think that'll make everything look really shiny."
