Rent crunch for student flats

Housing

If you’re looking for a rental for this university year, expect tough competition.

Trade Me has released its latest rental index.

Head of rentals Aaron Clancy said it showed ‘‘extreme demand’’ continued in February and was pushing rents up in many parts of the country.

‘‘January and February are typically very hectic months when lots of tenancies come up for renewal and students are looking for a flat before the university year kicks off.

‘‘2019 has been no different and across popular student towns, we’re seeing record rents and incredible demand. It’s extremely hard work finding a rental.’’

Auckland asking rents hit a median $560, a record for the city.

There were 15 per cent more in inquiries in February than the same time a year earlier.

Trade Me’s most popular rental property in New Zealand in the month was a one-bedroom apartment in St Lukes, which had 113 inquiries in its first two days on the website.

Hamilton’s median weekly rent hit $440, up 10 per cent on the year before. The number of inquiries there was up 29 per cent year-on-year.

In Palmerston North, the median weekly rent hit a record $390 in February, up 13 per cent on 2018. The median weekly rent in the Wellington region was up 8.2 per cent year-on-year to $530, a fall from January’s record of $550.

Clancy said that while Wellington had cooled slightly, there were still plenty of tenants looking for properties. ‘‘We saw 17 per cent more inquiries for Wellington rental properties in February this year, compared to 2018.

‘‘It looks like the frenetic market may be easing a bit after a supercharged December and January. The fact remains that Wellington doesn’t have enough rental stock so we expect to see more record highs this year.’’

Clancy said that Wellington City had also shuffled back slightly, with a median weekly rent of $590, down $5 from January 2019, but still an 11.3 per cent increase on February 2018.

‘‘It’s good for Wellington City tenants that rents are cooling a little but they’re still paying significantly more than their [central] Auckland cousins. Auckland and Wellington’s rental markets have been experiencing phenomenal growth over the last six months.’’

Clancy said the only student towns to avoid the pain were Christchurch and Dunedin.

‘‘Christchurch is seeing huge demand but the number of rental properties seems to be keeping pace for now, and as a result the median weekly rent for the city was flat year-on-year at $400.’’

‘‘We’re seeing record rents and incredible demand.’’ Trade Me head of rentals Aaron Clancy