Quarterly rental update: Auckland rent rises ease further

Media release
08 August 2018

Quarterly rental update: Auckland rent rises ease further

The cost of renting in Auckland is rising at the slowest pace in years according to recent data from one of the region’s largest property managers, Barfoot & Thompson.

The insight comes from the company’s regular quarterly review of weekly rent prices for the nearly 16,000 properties it manages.

“Renting a typical three-bedroom home in Auckland between April and June this year cost 3.5% or $19 more per week than it did during the same period in 2017,” says Director Kiri Barfoot. She notes three-bedroom homes make up the bulk of the company’s portfolio, and as such, are used as a standard example.

“This is the smallest percentage increase in weekly rents that we have observed in at least the last two years and is also the first time the average increase has dropped below the $20 per week mark.

“This time last year, the average increase in weekly rent on a three-bedroom home was more like $22, and in 2016 it was as high as $24.”

The downward trend seen in the first two quarters of 2018 follows a period of steady rises of around 4.3% per quarter year-on-year throughout 2017 and much higher increases of 5.0% or more during 2015 and 2016.

“We are likely seeing the beginning of a ‘new normal’ in rental price trends as landlords strike a fine balance in their pricing in the face of rising operating and compliance costs.”

The average weekly rent for all property sizes is edging downwards in keeping with the three-bedroom example, up 4.0% on the same period last year to $559. This compares to recent year-on-year quarterly increases of between 4.4% and 4.8%.

One-bedroom properties bucked the trend, with continued pressure on weekly rents and a quarterly year-on-year of 4.6%, while properties of other sizes moved in a band between 3.4% and 3.9%.

West Auckland was the only region of the city to experience price increases above 5.0% reflecting the growing popularity of the area among renters.

Quarterly rental update – Average weekly rent received across Auckland
Quarter 2 (April to June) 2018 vs same period 2017

Table source: Barfoot & Thompson averages for managed tenancies as at end of each month in quarter. Categories with less than four tenancies are not included.

*Based on statistics from approximately 16,000 Auckland rental properties managed by Barfoot & Thompson. This includes more than 6,000 three-bedroom properties, which have been chosen as the standard example to provide insight into the ‘typical’ weekly rental price in Auckland.

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