Rents up by around 3% in most areas

The average weekly rent paid for homes in most areas of Auckland has risen by around 3 percent year-on-year.

The figures for end March from more than 16,000 properties managed by Barfoot & Thompson, including both existing and new tenancies, show an average weekly rent of $616.32 for Auckland, up 3.19 percent on March 2021’s average of $597.25.

The numbers were similar in most areas of the region, with Rodney, North Shore, West Auckland, Eastern Suburbs, Pakuranga and Howick, and rural Manukau and Franklin all with average rents rising between 2.91 and 3.88 percent.

“This movement in rental prices makes the first quarter of 2022 one of the higher quarters in recent years, but still measured in proportion to the 5 and 6 percent increases recorded in between 2014 and 2017,” says Kiri Barfoot, Director of Barfoot & Thompson.

“What we are likely seeing is a slight rebound off the back of a period of frozen and slow-moving rents during the challenges of 2020 and 2021, as well as the expected upward pressure on operating costs of rental properties as a bi-product of compliance costs, rising inflation, increasing interest rates and reduced deductibility.”

Only the central city and fringe saw lower increases shy of 1.5 percent, but this was not expected to last over the longer term if demand began to return with renewed interest from students, short-term city renters and tourists.

South Auckland recorded the highest percentage increase across the region at 4.47 percent, however it has the third lowest average weekly rent of any area of the city at $555.21.

By size, homes at either end of the market recorded the greatest increases in average price, with one-bedroom properties attracting weekly rents 3.35 percent higher on average than last year, and four-bedroom homes attracting rents 3.84 percent higher.

For the typical Auckland rental, a three-bedroom home, the average weekly rent was now $621.10, up 3.11 percent or nearly $19 per week on a year ago.