Rental slowdown: Auckland rental inquiries drop 25% as cost pressures bite
The latest rental data are just out. Photo / Barfoot and Thompson
Rental inquiries to Auckland’s biggest residential management agency dropped by a quarter last month, with economic pressures cited as one factor.
Anil Anna, Barfoot & Thompson property management general manager, said 32,000 rental inquiries were received in March.
But only 24,450 inquiries were received in April.
The dip was not unexpected because there had been several strong months of activity preceding that, he said.
April also had school holidays, Easter and Anzac Day, so people had other priorities than asking about renting homes.
“Many households looking to settle into a new home at the start of the year will now have done so, while ongoing economic uncertainty and cost-of-living pressures could be making people more cautious about moving,” Anna said.
Auckland’s average weekly rent was $696.26 in April, down 46c from March.
Fewer inquiries resulted in fewer people renting agency-managed homes.
Barfoot & Thompson got 3249 rental applications in April, down 22% on the 4177 applications it got in March.
Barfoot & Thompson released a chart showing 10 areas of Auckland and rental prices being charged there.
The number of studio places which do not have a separate bedroom has now been taken into account in that chart.
An explanation referred to studio apartments as having “zero bedrooms” and the agency said accounting for those better reflected the range of homes of this size within the Barfoot & Thompson portfolio.
“This has seen a slight increase in some zero-to-one-bedroom category averages, but has not had a material impact on the overall Auckland average comparison,” the agency said.
The agency manages about 22,000 rental properties and employs more than 300 property managers and support staff.
In Auckland, it manages around 18,500 properties at any one time.
Three-bedroom properties represent more than a third of this portfolio, followed by two-bedroom properties at just over a quarter.
Barfoot & Thompson’s rentals are most numerous in West Auckland, where it manages more than 2500 places.
That is followed closely by South Auckland, North Shore and the eastern city fringe suburbs.
The division’s data from central Auckland are made up of almost entirely of apartments.
However, one new bit of Auckland rental estate is filling up fast.
More than half of the units in the country’s largest build-to-rent apartment block have been tenanted ahead of its official opening.
Te Reiputa, which means the shark’s-tooth pendant, is based in Auckland’s Mt Wellington.
The first residents arrived in January and by April 22, 149 of the initial 191 units available for rent were already rented out.
Simplicity Living managing director Shane Brealey said opening day was May 1 at the 297-unit, five-building Mt Wellington project between the Mt Wellington Highway and 1 Reiputa Lane.
Te Reiputa rents are:
- $500-$550/ week, 42-58sq m one-bedroom, no car park;
- $550-$580/week, 42-58sq m one-bedroom, one car park;
- $615-$630/week, 75sq m two bedrooms, no car park;
- $665-$675/week, 75sq m two bedrooms, one car park;
- $780-$820/week, 101sq m three-bedroom with car park.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 26 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
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