"Skilled IT candidates are in high demand across the country and employers are offering more to secure talent with a 3.1 per cent increase in average pay to $110,657"

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/109953426/trade-me-data-sho...

Why is payscale so horribly wrong? Are employers spamming it to use as an argument for lower pay?

There's a lot of grads and intermediate developers dragging the average down. Also, Wellington has a lot of services companies that pay as close to the bottom of the range as they can get.