The number of residential properties newly listed for rent on property website Realestate.co.nz hit a 10-year high in January.
Realestate.co.nz saw new rental listings rise 12.8%, year-on-year, in January to 7224.
That's the highest number of new listings Realestate.co.nz has received in the month of January since it began publishing the figures in 2016.
Around the main centres, the biggest increase in new listings was in Wellington, where they were up 54% compared to January 2025.
New listings were up in all regions except Coromandel, Gisborne, West Coast and Otago, while listings in Waikato were almost unchanged with a decrease of just 0.2%. See the chart below for the full regional figures.
January's listings pushed the total stock of available rental properties on Realestate.co.nz to 7830 at the end of January, up 9.8% compared to the same time last year.
However, while the number of properties available to rent has been increasing, the average asking rents have headed in the opposite direction.
The average advertised rent on Realestate.co.nz was $634 a week in January, down $12 a week from $646 in January last year.
In the main centres, the biggest overall easing in the market was in the Wellington region, where the total stock of available rental properties on Realestate.co.nz in January was up 46% compared to January last year, while the average asking rent declined by $65 a week (-9%) over the same period.
The latest figures suggest finding a rental property has become easier and slightly more affordable for tenants in most parts of the country at the start of of this year, but of course the news is not so good for landlords.
6 Comments
Wow! So is this because of all the new terraced houses? Or just due to people leaving?
And if cheap housing is what attracts young people, why aren't a ton of Aussies coming here to take advantage of these cheaper rents?
Its a combination of building stock for sale (some will be entering rental market especially if vendor is now offshore), less migrants, more uni students studying local to their own uni and living at home to save money. also more leaving, and a lot of unsold terrace shitboxes now to let to provide sinking developers some cashflow.
Aussies will not come here to lose 20% of wages and also lose 12% super contribs, you must be joking.
You're right, I was joking. People are leaving NZ for higher wages, not because our houses are too expensive. But most commentators here like to blame the ponzi.
"but of course the news is not so good for landlords"
Well after 30 years of always good news for landlords, who often gloated about how wealthy they were becoming via their rental property portfolios, and how they were simultaneously doing Gods work of charity by providing housing for 'poor people' ie their mortgage serfs while outbidding the same people at auctions using capital gains in previously own properties as the deposit for their new rental (income stream), while claiming the reason house prices were going up was because of a demand/supply imbalance (which they were creating by buying more houses than what they needed for themselves), then one can only conclude that a period of bad times could be the worlds way of providing balance back into what had become an extremely one sided equation (where the rich were getting richer, and the poor more and more hopeless).
I really don't know why many of them are still going. The yield is often pathetic and the asset is not appreciating. And even worse if you can't find a tenant. They really must believe that good times are just around the corner, in it for the long term, etc. They could be right I guess...
Luckily in WGTN, even though rents are falling, a caring council is not putting rates up too much (sarc).
Banks also putting boot in re rates rising.
Landlords are Doing God's Work to provide cheap housing.
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