PHOTO: Trade Me Property
The national median weekly rent remained flat year-on-year for the first time since 2017 in July, according to the latest Trade Me Rental Price Index.
Trade Me Property spokesperson Aaron Clancy said the July national median weekly rent saw no change when compared with the same month last year, sitting at $500. “New Zealand rent prices have grown consistently in recent years, the last time we saw the median weekly rent remaining flat year-on-year was August 2017.
Mr Clancy said rental price increases first began to slow from March. “In 2019, the average monthly year-on-year growth was 5.5 per cent. By comparison, so far in 2020 the average monthly year-on-year growth has been under 4 per cent. In May and June, year-on-year growth was just 2 per cent.”
Mr Clancy said the closing of the gap between demand and supply was behind the deceleration of rental price increases. “Interestingly, while rentals continue to be in hot demand, with the number of enquiries up by 9 per cent last month when compared with July 2019, this actually marked a drop on demand seen in previous months.”
“Meanwhile, the number of properties available to rent in July 2020 saw only a slight drop of 1 per cent when compared to the same month last year, so the market was a lot more balanced in July than it in earlier months of this year.
“It looks like some landlords have seen this and feel like they can’t get any more for their investment properties at the moment, so are taking a bit of a wait-and-see approach, as well as holding off on rent increases.”
“Crucially these numbers were ahead of the latest changes in our alert levels so it will be interesting to see how both landlords and tenants have reacted to the August changes.”
However, Mr Clancy said fluctuations in rental prices varied between regions, with some seeing more change than others. “In the Auckland region, the median weekly rent was flat year-on-year, at $560. Marlborough and Canterbury both saw similar, incremental increases of around 1 per cent.”
“In other regions, rental prices continued the upward trend seen in recent years, with Southland, Bay of Plenty, Nelson/Tasman, Otago, Manawatu/ Whanganui, and Hawkes Bay seeing notable increases of over 5 per cent year-on-year.
“The two regions to drop were the West Coast (down 6.3%) and Gisborne (down 15.5%), both of these regions have small rental markets and can be subject to reasonably large swings at times. We’ll be keeping an eye on both over the coming months.”
Auckland and Wellington rents
When compared to July last year, the median weekly rent in the Auckland region remained flat year-on-year at $560 last month, while Wellington’s median weekly rent saw a 4 per cent year-on-year increase to $550.
“In the Auckland region, the districts with the highest median weekly rents were Waiheke Island ($670), North Shore City ($610), and Manukau City and Rodney third equal ($570).”
“Overall demand in the region was up 10 per cent year-on-year, while supply was flat.”
“The most popular rental of the month was a two-bedroom spot on Cambridge Terrace, Papatoetoe that received 104 enquiries in its first 48 hours onsite.”
Auckland’s most popular rental listings in July 2020
|
Rental address |
Suburb |
Enquiries in first 2 days |
Bedrooms |
|
|
1 |
Cambridge Terrace |
Papatoetoe |
104 |
2 |
|
2 |
De Havilland Drive |
Goodwood Heights |
80 |
3 |
|
3 |
Sunnyfield Crescent |
Glenfield |
77 |
3 |
“In the Wellington region, the districts with the highest median weekly rents were Porirua ($590), Wellington City ($565) and Lower Hutt ($550).”
Wellington has seen huge demand in recent months but it looks like, for now, things are settling a little in the capital. Supply across the region continues to be an issue though and if demand shoots up rental prices could follow.”
“The number of Wellington properties available for rent was down 2 per cent on July 2019, while demand for Wellington rentals was up 1.5 per cent.”
House types
Mr Clancy said large house rents had shown the biggest decreases in July. “Last month’s weekly median rent for large houses (5+ bedrooms) in the Auckland region was flat on July 2019, while in Wellington and Christchurch, the median weekly rents dropped by 2 per cent and 7 per cent respectively.”
“The median weekly rent of units reached a new high of $415, up 5 per cent when compared with July 2019.”
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