Lack of rentals shuts out shared flatting for students

Students and young professionals are having to consider living alone as many reassess their accommodation because of a lack of suitable three and four-bedroom rental properties for flatting.

Hamilton property management company Lodge City Rentals had just 25 empty homes on its books available for rent in January, and with growing rental housing demand in the city, it was becoming almost impossible to secure a three or fourbedroom home to flat in.

General manager Jason Waugh says students returning to the city to study or young professionals were having to let go of their ideals of living in a shared flat with their friends and instead opt for a one-bedroom studio room.

Lodge City Rentals had a total of just 75 empty properties on its books and 55 of them were studio rooms, many of them one bedroom. By contrast, Lodge had 3970 inquiries for rental properties in January, one of the highest months experienced.

Jason says the studio-room segment of the market was traditionally used by students, but many young professionals or others who would normally like to flat with other people, were having to consider the one-bedroom studios because there are no larger rentals available.

“There are a lot of pressures on the market currently. Students are returning, people are wanting to relocate to the city for jobs, or a change in lifestyle, and there are not enough larger houses to go around.”

He says many first-home buyers were also now looking for rentals.

“There are also a lot of people who would be first-home buyers who now find themselves in a position of not being able to get into the property market, so they also need rentals.”

While there has been much publicity around how tight the rental market is and the rising cost of rentals,

Waugh says recent suggestions of introducing rent controls as a measure to manage the issue seemed to have been taken off the table.

The Government had signalled the possibility of rent controls at the start of February, but Jason says a recent webinar given by Minister Poto Williams indicated this wasn’t being seriously considered. It was indicated the Government is set to discuss bringing all property managers under one regulatory authority.