Auckland Rental Market

[Kolyan]

Hi guys,

How is Auckland rental market doing now?
I recall that 6 month ago NZ herald was full of articles about rental properties shortage in Auckland and about tenancy applicants bidding against each other.

It does not seem to be the case anymore?!? Our 4 bedroom house in Botany area has been on Trademe for 3 days now and not even one phone call. I would assume people who search actively would check out the new listing. Also it seems like there are quite a few similar size properties for rent in our area.

Would this be a seasonality factor due to Xmas or was there a dramatic change in the market over the last few month ?

PS. This is the first time we are renting out a property so we do not have any background.

[eri]

xmas is never a good time to move

so to tempt the few who do

you have to drop the rent

or wait until next year

[flyernzl]

For whatever reason, its slow.

[Bulldog]

I had a unit advertised in early October, very slow, about 3 enquiries in 2 weeks but taken by a good tenant end of Oct. He gave notice end of Nov. so now the same unit is re-advertised. Had about 6 queries in a week, 5 genuine, just signing up a tenant. I think its improved but Christmas is a bad time to look for tenants.

The tenant who lasted all of 4 weeks was a dream tenant, obsessively clean, courteous & prompt with the rent. He "traded up", new GF (also a lovely person) had high standards so would not let him bring his old "flat" furniture. Delivery from Freedom Furniture, everything brand new! Relationship lasted 2 weeks, now he's left with a unit full of new furniture! Moral is if you going to trade up, make sure you are compatible first!

[skid]

Maybe she traded up as well

[Bluekiwi]

I will let you know, one of my tenants just gave notice last week.
Such is the problem with 2 woman going flatting together, just a ticking time bomb till they fall out.

But yep the tables have turned about mid year.
My views, are that immigration has stayed about nuetral, yet unemployment and economic growth and general well being of the population took a step backwards, and johnny has gone back to mummys to live

When Immigraion turns, as is happening right now, we are at low tide, it will pick up again, and then when the economy picks up a tad, like it was 2011 and early 2012, then the "Problem" for people looking for accomodation will come back.

We of course, will have the solution

[Kolyan]

I guess it al comes down to price. Will probably have to rent it out below the market rate.

[Davo36]

Mate, it's only been 3 days. If you get to 3 weeks with no good offers, then lower it.

[PC]

Looking in the local paper last night - still only a column & half of too lets.
"Normal" is usually two pages.
Supply still seems rather tight.

[Bluekiwi]

I guess it al comes down to price. Will probably have to rent it out below the market rate.

If you dont quite get the response you want, a good idea is to drop the rent to get a larger pool of tenants to pick a good one.
Then raise the rent in 6 months back to where you wanted it to be.

[Bulldog]

Also, do specify no letting fee (presumably you don't charge this?) & provide as much detail as possible plus as many pics as you can. There are a lot of tyre kickers on Trademe, give them more info than they will need.

[JPW]

I have recently moved flat and have found myself competing for properties with upwards of 6 or 7 groups of people sometimes much more than that. I think we checked out roughly 15 odd properties around Mount Eden, Ponsonby, Newmarket, and other city fringe areas. It got to a point where you'd have to fill in an application form before you had even viewed the property. There are three of us in our mid to late 20's with professional jobs and have good incomes. We had been looking for about 2 months and found the competition rather fierce. All the best.

[Bulldog]

JPW, best to tell LL a bit about yourselves beforehand so they are favourably disposed to you (eg. your job, number of flatmates, if you have any TT orders against you, etc.). Get a copy of the TINZ application form, complete it & send copies in advance of your viewing. I think Keys once said that tenants select themselves! I think that is very true. I get text messages like 'Yo, whn cn we C da hous". Needless to say, they will never get to C da hous!

[JPW]

Haha good advice Bulldog.

I honestly can't believe people txt to arrange viewing appointments, let alone using txt language. Phone call is far more professional.

Thankfully we now reside in a nice place in Mount Eden. It was a stressful 2 months and took up a large portion of my time. Glad it's over to be honest.

[waterbaby]

Seconded, JPW!!! My partner and I were looking for a place in or very close to Mt Eden and I was blown away by the competitive nature of the viewings. Saw more than one person offering agents cash on the spot to sign them up. It was unpleasant to witness and I got the feeling a lot of agents were going for the quick sell as opposed to wanting to go away and think about quality tenants. I got tricky, started bringing written references from previous landlords, employers and property managers, proof of employment, copies of ID, things like that - it really helped. We wound up in a beautiful unit for a bargain basement price (useless letting agent, plus I suspect there is no mortgage on the property so the LL isn't struggling to cover costs), but it had me nearly tearing my hair out to secure the place!

About texting: I always text or email, because to me, calling is the height of bad manners ("Stop what you are doing RIGHT NOW and talk to me, or pay $$$ to return my call and find out what I wanted"). But txt-speak is never ok - everything should be spelled out in full, grammatically correct, polite, with a nice greeting and signed off with a name.