It’s ‘survival of the richest’ in NZ’s rental market

PHOTO: STUFF – The rental situation in Wellington has been called a “crisis”.

OPINION: Gotta love the free market. What a stupendous economic tool. Especially if you are a landlord and especially if you own rentals in Wellington.

You see, in our nation’s fair capital, the advertised rent of a property doesn’t necessarily mean it is the cash you’ll have to stump up each week; sometimes it’s merely the starting point for a silent auction that will pit you against other desperate would-be tenants. Survival of the richest.

The Spinoff recently cited the case of a Victoria University student who was asked to submit the maximum he’d be willing to pay beyond the listed rental because the house was in “high demand”.

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