The flashy Auckland suburb where rent prices have plummeted

Renters looking for the nation’s best rental discounts may want to check out one of Auckland’s flashest suburbs.

Greenhithe in the city’s northwest is home to some of the Auckland’s most beautiful lifestyle mansions, set amid sprawling riverfront grounds and woodland.

Yet the suburb’s rent prices have also fallen 18 per cent over the past year, according to data collated by analysts CoreLogic.

That - together with an 18 per cent drop in rent prices in northern Auckland suburb Unsworth Heights - was the biggest fall in median rents anywhere in the country between November 2021 and November 2022.

By comparison, rents across the whole Auckland region fell by 0.6 per cent over the same period, CoreLogic chief economist Kelvin Davidson said.

Greenhithe is “part of the wider story that rents are slowing in Auckland”, he said.

“Auckland has had a downturn in sales prices and it is also showing through in rents.”

The drop in Auckland rents is also part of a two speed rental market in New Zealand.

On the one hand, Auckland and Wellington rents fell in the past year.

Yet on the other, national median rental prices hit an all-time record high of $580 in November, according to a Trade Me report last month.

As well as Greenhithe and Unsworth Heights, other Auckland suburbs to feature in CoreLogic’s top 10 areas for the biggest rental price drops included exclusive Westmere (-13 per cent) and southern Clover Park and Manukau (both 11 per cent).

Outside of Auckland, Kaikohe in the Far North and a number of Ruapehu district towns also experienced big drops.

This two-bedroom house is available for rent on Greenhithe's Shelter Drive for $630 per week.

Nationally, the towns with the biggest rent rises over the past 12 months were Fairlie and Twizel in MacKenzie district, Arthurs Point in Queenstown and Waimate where prices rose in each area by 33 per cent.

In Auckland, rents went up the most in inner eastern suburb Kohimarama with prices rising 18 per cent, according to CoreLogic.

A collection of suburbs on Waiheke Island were the next biggest risers, jumping 12 per cent each.

Neither CoreLogic’s Davidson or Mike Atkinson - managing director of Aspire Property Management - said they could immediately pinpoint why Greenhithe and Unsworth Heights suffered bigger falls than anywhere else in the country.

Both suburbs have a variety of homes available for rent, starting from one-and-two-bedroom sleep-outs and split homes, yet both are also better known for their large family homes.

Aspire’s Atkinson said his team rented out 290 properties across Auckland, Waikato and Tauranga last year.

That included only four homes in Unsworth Heights and three in Greenhithe (which were all five bedrooms or bigger).

Out of the seven homes, five were rented out at the advertised price, while two needed small drops in the rent per week price.

The Greenhithe homes were rented out quickly while the Unsworth Heights homes took a bit longer than many other areas, Atkinson said.

He said CoreLogic’s findings might potentially be due to families taking advantage of dropping rental prices in Auckland to move to larger homes closer to the city centre.

Yet at the same time, the increase in people working part time from home following the Covid pandemic, meant people could often live further from their workplaces than in the past, he said.

Other reasons may potentially be that these suburbs have a number of older homes in them and lack nearby shops and highly rated school zones, he said.

This four-bedroom Greenhithe home on Eastvale Close is renting for $1500 per week. Photo / Supplied

Another reason why rental prices can sometimes drop in a suburb is if a large number of apartments and units were built and leased out for cheaper prices than family homes - thus collectively lowering the overall median rent of the area.

Yet Atkinson said he isn’t aware of an especially large number of new developments being built in either suburb.

Homes available for rent in Greenhithe at the moment include the likes of this “luxury designer home” with a long and “exclusive” driveway through native bush that gives the feeling it is “as if driving to a country spa retreat”, according to its marketing material.

It can be rented for $1500 per week.

Others include this two-bedroom home ideal for a “couple or small family” for $630 per week.

Then there is the more quirky rentals, like a boat available on Trade Me for $350 per week.

Perhaps ideal for those who fancy a life aboard a vessel but who don’t yet have their sea legs, the one bedroom boat-unit is dry docked in a Greenhithe backyard on Upper Harbour Drive.

Photos show the double-hulled vessel standing amid trees and flowers with an external ladder leading up to its back deck.

The launch boat has 30sq m of internal space and 20sq m of decks and sits on a property that includes its own “performance stage” in the backyard for impromptu concerts.

According to Trade Me’s latest report, Auckland’s median weekly rent was $600 in November, down from $610 a month earlier in October.

Trade Me property sales director Gavin Lloyd said Auckland’s most expensive districts were North Shore City ($650), Rodney ($640) and Papakura ($630).