Higher Auckland house prices are not flowing through directly into the rental market, with the city’s average weekly rents seeing year on year increases of around 5%.
Rents continue to increase by approximately 5% year on year with the average weekly rent for a three bedroom Auckland home now $514, according to the latest report from Barfoot and Thompson.
Suburb pricing trends continue but Mt Albert, Parnell and Sandringham break the mould with year on year increases of over 11, the data also shows.
The average weekly rent for a three bedroom home in Auckland during the April to June quarter was $514, up less than 1% on last quarter and 4.8% on the same quarter in 2015.
‘Three bedroom rentals make up around 40% of our managed properties, making them a good measure of the market,’ said Barfoot and Thompson director Kiri Barfoot.
‘Other property categories generally follow the same trend, albeit at lower or higher price points depending on the number of bedrooms,’ she added.
A breakdown of the figures show that one bedroom properties averaged $335 per week, up 5% from $319 in the April to June quarter 2015, and two bedrooms $428, up 6.2% from $403, while four bedroom homes were $648, up 4.2% from $622 and five plus bedroom homes averaged $801, up 4.8% from $764.
Pricing trends continued across the suburbs as well, with the Central Auckland apartment market remaining the most expensive for smaller properties of one, two or three bedrooms, and the Eastern suburbs maintaining position as the most expensive for four or more bedrooms.
‘Outside the city apartment market, it continued to be a story of two halves for Auckland’s North and South this quarter too,’ Barfoot pointed out.
South Auckland rental properties saw the greatest percentage increase year on year for the quarter of 6.8%, while North Shore rental prices experienced the least percentage increase, not including Central Auckland, only rising 3.7 %.
Looking more closely at rental data from the first two quarters of this year compared to the last two quarters of 2015 three suburbs broke the mould with three bedroom rental averages increasing 11% or more. These were Mt Albert up 14.7%, Parnell up 11.7% and Sandringham up 11.6%.
‘These areas are centrally located but still offer the benefits of suburban living, making them popular choices. These areas are fast becoming popular as the new central suburbs, the next Ponsonby and Grey Lynns if you will, and our data suggests continued future growth particularly for Mt Albert and Sandringham,’ Barfoot explained.
The company anticipates a pre-spring upswing in rental activity during the coming quarter, when they typically see a slight increase in new letting. ‘While not as pronounced as summer spikes, we often find a number of tenants are eager to move on from properties during the cold winter months and as we head into spring,’ said Barfoot.
‘It’s therefore a good time to remind landlords to keep on top of winter maintenance and look at ways to make their homes more comfortable with affordable heating, insulation and so on.
In addition to meeting some new legislation requirements early, these are the sorts of things that help keep tenants in a property longer, or make a home more attractive for those looking to rent in the coming months,’ she concluded.
