14 Apr 2011

Rental house market favours tenants, online site says

5:38 pm on 14 April 2011

There are more properties for rent throughout New Zealand than there are tenants looking for accommodation, according to TradeMe.

The internet site says that, nationally, rental properties listed on it increased by 11% in the March quarter, while demand was down 1%.

The head of Trade Me Property, Brendan Skipper, says over the past three months the number of properties for rent has outstripped demand from prospective tenants in cities including Tauranga, Dunedin, Hamilton and Wellington.

Of the main centres, only Auckland is bucking the trend.

Homes available for rent there were down 13% while demand jumped by 18%. The average weekly rent in Auckland is up 7% compared to a 3% increase nationally.

However, rental company Quinovic is unconvinced by the Trade Me statistics showing a glut of rental properties.

National business development manager Juliet Robinson says vacancy rates are low and she is not seeing a difference across the country.

The gap in supply and demand was greater in 2008 than it is now, she says.