The decline in advertised rents that has been evident on websites such as Trade Me Property and Realestate.co.nz for the last few months is now starting to show up in the bonds received by Tenancy Services.
In May the national median rent from the 12,321 bonds received by Tenancy Services dropped to $595 a week.
That was was only down by $5 a week compared to $600 in April, but was significant because the national median rent had been sitting on $600 a week since February 2024 - the only exception being January this year when it briefly popped up to $620 before coming back to $600 in February.
On its own, a monthly movement of $5 a week in either direction would not necessarily signal a major change in the rental market, but this latest movement, while still small, comes after property websites Realestate.co.nz and Trade Me Property have both been reporting declines in asking rents for advertised rental properties.
It follows that lower asking rents should eventually flow through to lower rents in bond data, so the small fall in May's average rent may be the start of a more significant decline after almost 18 months of rents stagnating - the table below shows the monthly and annual change in median rents around the regions.
While median rents were slightly weaker in May, the number of bonds received in May was reasonably strong.
Tenancy Services received 12,321 bonds from throughout the country in May, most of which would have been for newly tenanted properties.
That was up 4.9% compared to May last year and was also the highest number of bonds received in the month of May since 2021.
That, and the number of properties being advertised for rent on the main rental websites, all point towards there being plenty of rental stock available for prospective tenants to choose from, which should also help keep a lid on rent increases.
Whether that turns out to be a sinking lid we'll have to wait and see.
9 Comments
More to come I'd wager. How will specuexploiters afford trips to Spain...
No doubt you’ve timed the market perfectly, Averageman .. buying when others blinked and now schooling others from your easy-chair
If money doesn’t loosen up, this sucker will go down.”
–George W. Bush“I believe this was the greatest economic statement of all time.”
–Warren Buffett
I don't think Average man has ever owned any investment properties. He/she prefers to lecture others from a "haven't done this, haven't done that" perspective of opinion, rather than experience.
Oh, an insufferable know-it-all/tosser
You would be wrong, wrong and wrong Yvil my old bean. Managed, built, maintained and owned my own and some large portfolios for others. But all in a past life now, and for me, commercial assets are the way to go these days. Along with other business interests.
Anyone truly independent of the resi exploiter model would agree its a very tough look for future generations and people trying to work and get started. Its a very one sided model protecting the global traveling gin drinker. The over lending to this sector has yo yo'ed the economy unleashing bouts of inflation, and now stagflation. The definition of "winning". But hay, we can keep wondering why we are exporting our educated youth and recent immigrant workers to Straya.
But good that "you" are ok. Have another gin in Spain on the struggling working class -chin chin.
Sangria, not Gin.
"How will specuexploiters afford trips to Spain…"
Perhaps by providing holiday accommodation in beautiful locations around the world to people willing to pay top dollar for the benefit of being "expoited" as you put it.
Is this also a result of the increasing number of smaller homes / townhouses coming on the market?
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