Our director Mike Atkinson joined Tim Beveridge on the OneRoof Radio Show recently to talk through what’s happening in the New Zealand rental market right now.
What Tim and Mike Covered
- Why rents have been flat since late 2024. Supply and demand came back into balance towards the end of 2024 and rents have barely moved since. The years of shortage and rising rents are, for now, over.
- The new supply. Townhouses and apartments have been completing in volume across Auckland, and tenants with more choice are shopping on price and location.
- Winter demand. Viewing numbers drop sharply once the weather turns, so a property listed in June needs sharper pricing and presentation than the same home would in February.
- Costs a landlord cannot pass on. Rates, insurance and infrastructure charges have risen far faster than rents, which squeezes the return even where the rent has held.
- The 30 percent question. The government’s proposal that social housing tenants pay 30 percent of their income in rent, and whether that number bears any relation to what private renters in Auckland actually pay.
- Notices to vacate and the Tribunal. What a tenant can do if they believe a notice was issued unfairly, which brought a run of calls from listeners with their own stories.
- Policy uncertainty. Talk of a capital gains or wealth tax is weighing on investors deciding whether to hold, buy or sell.
What It Means If You Own a Rental
A flat market is not a bad market, but it is an unforgiving one. The properties that rent quickly are priced to today’s market rather than last year’s, presented properly and advertised well. If your rent has not been reviewed for a while, a rental appraisal will tell you where it sits now, and our guide to tenanting a property quickly covers the rest.
On the cost side, the management fee is one of the few line items a landlord can compare and control. We publish ours, and what it does and does not include, on the property management fee page.
Listen to the Full Segment
The interview aired on Saturday 6 June 2026 on The Weekend Collective, Newstalk ZB, and runs about 40 minutes. If the player above does not load, listen on the Newstalk ZB website.
