The average price paid for a New Zealand small-to-medium business has hit a record. ABC Business Sales’ September 2026 Quarterly Market Intelligence Report puts the average sale price for a general business, excluding hospitality, at $877,360 in the year to September.
That’s up 15% on a year earlier and just above the previous high of $874,182, set in September 2024.
But buyers aren’t paying more for the same business. The median multiple, or what buyers pay per dollar of earnings, held at 3.64 times managed EBITDA, against 3.63 a year earlier. The report says the price rise came from more businesses selling for over $1 million, mostly to trade buyers and owners growing an existing operation.
Most of that rise was in by June. The rolling three-month average rose just 1% between the June and September quarters, so the report says prices have levelled at a high rather than kept climbing.
Hospitality holds its band
Hospitality businesses averaged $235,818, up 2% on the year. Their average has stayed between about $200,000 and $255,000 since 2021.
They sell for a median 1.97 times earnings, measured before the working owner is paid, and that multiple has sat between 1.85 and 2.10 for five years. The report says a higher-than-usual number of hospitality businesses are selling for under $300,000, and most of those buyers are new migrants.
Plenty of buyers, not many businesses
Demand eased slightly from a record. Prospective buyers signed 26,762 confidentiality agreements, 4% fewer than the year before, and ABC completed 452 sales, down 6% from 483.
Supply stayed tight. ABC took on 748 new listings, within the 740 to 766 band it has held for five years. Average Trade Me business listings rose 3% to 3,584, the first rise in four years, but that’s still 27% below the 4,900 recorded in September 2020.
That leaves about 36 buyers for every new listing, down from 38. ABC counts anything above 30 as a seller’s market. A typical business sold in 133 days, four days slower than the year before.
The South Island completed 91 sales, fewer than the year before, and the report puts that down to fewer businesses coming to market. Canterbury deals in the report’s list of sales include a freight and courier business at $1.35 million and an industrial, building and hardware supplier at $2.35 million.
Retirement was the most common reason to sell, given by 32.2% of vendors who gave a reason, with a new opportunity next at 26%. Buyers averaged 43 years old and sellers 52.
What ABC expects next
ABC expects listings to stay flat to the end of 2026, then lift about 10% over the following nine months as earnings recover. It forecasts general business prices to rise another 10% and multiples to edge up 2 to 3%.
The figures cover ABC’s own completed sales in the $0 to $10 million range, a segment where it estimates its market share at 40 to 45%.
“We’re currently seeing 36 buyers for every business that comes to market. That’s still a strong sellers’ market, and owners who prepare now will be best placed when more businesses list from the new year,” says Chris Small, managing director of ABC Business Sales.
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