Shortage puts rent through roof

By PHILIP ENGLISH

Rental accommodation in Auckland is in such short supply that landlords are offering properties after "auctions" for flat-seekers.

Finding rental accommodation at the start of the work and university year has traditionally been difficult, but this season it seems harder than ever - and first-come does not necessarily mean first-served.

More renters are turning up with CVs and references.

In one "auction" for a three-bedroom house in Mt Eden, the rent of $350 a week rose to $450, although the landlord and successful bidder later settled for $410.

Rents have risen up to 20 per cent.

Some landlords now demand references from prospective tenants as a matter of course and ask for the maximum bond allowable.

The shortage, said to be greatest closer to the centre of Auckland City and in Howick, has been put down to a shrinking number of houses with gardens. Once the backbone of the rental market, they have been snapped up by home buyers.

In central Auckland the cause has been put down to the number of overseas students who can afford to pay whatever is asked for apartments.

Wilma Wooldrage, of Reality Solutions in Ponsonby, believes the shortage will be over in a couple of months.

"Immediately after Christmas and in the New Year everyone comes flying back to Auckland," she said.

"They've given up their properties at the end of November or December and have gone off to visit the beach or to visit mum and they all start gathering again in January.

"You get a place empty in November and December and you can't fill it."

Research from Massey University's real estate analysis unit points to population changes as the main cause of rising rents.

It says there are early indications that the net migration outflow has turned around and more New Zealanders are returning home. That has led to increased demand for rental property, especially in Auckland, followed by a rise in rents.

Trevor Elwin, manager of the city rentals branch of Barfoot & Thompson, said signs of the shortage started showing up in August and September when the few rental properties being vacated were quickly re-let.

Mr Elwin said the rental market in Auckland was delicately poised and landlords had to be careful not to upset long-standing tenants by raising rents to a level that would prove unacceptable.

He said the market was about what a willing landlord could charge a willing tenant.

A spokeswoman for the Tenants Protection Association said Auckland's emergency housing was now permanently full.

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