Quarterly Rental Update: Auckland Rents Stable During Third Quarter

The average weekly rent for a home in Auckland moved less than $1 during the third quarter, ending 30 September at $606.25, according to data from more than 16,000 rental properties managed by Barfoot & Thompson.

The average weekly rent for the previous quarter, ending 30 June, was $605.51.

A year-on-year comparison shows the average weekly rent in the region increased 2.97 per cent, or $17.49 more per week.

Barfoot & Thompson Director Kiri Barfoot says the market has settled into a rate of annual growth hovering around 3 per cent over recent years, however lockdown in Auckland has contributed to slightly more subdued movement this quarter.

“While prices are still moving up gradually, we have seen a consistently slower pace of change bed-in over the last two years.

“By way of contrast, if we look back five or six years, we were seeing the peak of increases hitting nearly double the current rate and price difference. For example, in September 2015, rents had risen well over 6 per cent year-on-year and by more than $30 per week.”

Impact of lockdown

With a significant part of the third quarter spent in Level 4 lockdown, Ms Barfoot believes Auckland’s lockdown will have had some impact.

“There was just 0.12 per cent change in the average rent between August and September, about half of the usual expected change.

“This shows what we already knew – there was little movement in tenancies or rents across the board during this challenging period for the city.

“The movement we have recorded is likely down to people shifting properties at the tail end of September under Level 3 conditions, which was a very short period in terms of the entire three-month quarter.”

Ms Barfoot noted this quarter was also the first period to include the initial impact of rental reforms restricting rent reviews to 12-monthly, which came into effect on 12 August 2020.

“We are now seeing the first increases that have followed rent reviews for the first-eligible properties.”

However, she says it’s a bit too early to see how that will pan out in the statistics over the longer term, and with other harder-hitting factors such as lockdowns playing a part in landlord decision making.

Regionally, properties in the south and west of the city saw the highest rate of increase as demand puts continued pressure on these traditionally lower-priced areas of the city.

Rates of change were comparable across housing sizes, however there was a notable uptick in price growth for homes with five or more bedrooms.

The table above is based on statistics drawn from a portfolio of 16,000+ Auckland rental properties managed by Barfoot & Thompson during the month of September 2021, and compared to September 2020. This includes both existing and newly signed tenancies.

Please note: The company has recently moved to a new data tracking system, which may see minor differences in the samples used within previous updates. It also includes a finer breakdown in focus areas to include sub-sets of the Auckland central area.

Monthly rental statistic reports are also available on the Barfoot & Thompson website under ‘Market Reports’.

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