Landlords such as Brent Park (right) have found people are getting competitive to secure a home, as rents rise and demand increases. Photo/Ben Fraser
Landlords such as Brent Park (right) have found people are getting competitive to secure a home, as rents rise and demand increases. Photo/Ben Fraser
Demand for rentals is fueling fierce competition for those wanting to get into a property and it could get even tougher for those looking with one agent saying the cost of renting in Rotorua is set to rise.
The latest Trade Me figures have shown an increase in rental properties across the board with houses going up from $300 to $310 a week in price and units going up from $195 to $250 in comparison with April 2015 to April this year.
Overall, the figures showed that rental properties had an average weekly price of $290 - $10 more than this time last year, but $10 less than the previous two months.
It comes as agents talk of a rental shortage - so much so that one landlord had people offer to pay more for his rental in a bid to secure it.
There are currently 308 rental properties listed on Trade Me.
LJ Hooker Rotorua principal Malcolm Forsyth said he was surprised the cost of house rentals hadn't increased more.
"Owning a rental property these days is becoming a more costly exercise.
"In another six months you will probably see quite a big jump up ... A lot of notices have been given out saying that rents are going up, but maybe they haven't come through yet."
He said in the past they had held open homes for rentals, but that was to generate interest in a property when they were having trouble finding people.
"Now we don't have to because we have so many people looking," he said.
Finding a rental in Rotorua is proving tough going for many. Photo / Ben Fraser
Richard Evans from Rotorua Rentals said demand was such that he put an advert online on Friday morning and by midday he had five calls and five emails from people interested in the property.
"We are almost frightened to advertise at the moment because we get snowed under. It's heart-breaking, there just isn't enough rentals for the amount of people looking. It's a nationwide issue."
Rotorua Property Investors Association president Debbie van den Broek said there had been a shortage of rentals for quite sometime, leaving the listings low.
"As the market picks up there's more buyers so the rental pool is reducing."
She said landlords were also doing their rentals up so that was putting the cost up and because of that people were willing to pay more.
"When I advertise rental properties I have had 10 or so really good people come through, in the past you would just get one or two, but now it's so hard to pick who to give the houses too."
Ross Stanway, chief executive of Eves and Bayleys Real Estate, said the increases were reasonably consistent with other properties throughout the Bay of Plenty.
"It's not unexpected. Landlords have been making improvements to their properties, making prices go up.
"The unit increase is interesting, many of the units would probably be one or two bedroom. Maybe they hadn't had an increase in sometime and some may have had significant upgrades."
He said the demand for rentals was high because it was difficult for people to purchase a home, especially for first-time buyers.
"It's always been difficult for first-home buyers. There are also people who are moving to the district and want to rent before they buy so they can look around. In Rotorua, the level of awareness has increased, there are more people looking at living and working there."
Landlord Brent Park said he put his property up on Trade Me at 10.45pm on a recent Sunday night, and had people viewing the next day.
He said at that stage the Utuhina property was under renovation, so "lots of imagination was required".
After five days they'd had about 40 people look at the property.
Mr Park said he had put in his advert that the rent price listed was negotiable thinking he may get people asking to pay less but, was completely blind-sided by people wanting to "buy" their way into the property.
"We didn't really negotiate this though, as the best tenants offer more than cash as recompense for a property."
He said he put his rental being picked up so quickly down to timing, location, and price.
"There is very little on the market that is in the right suburbs, is fully fenced and feels like a home."
Mr Park said in retrospect it would have made the whole process somewhat easier to hold an open home for the rental.
"But it would have felt worse for people who missed out on the property, as it is always hard to tell people they are a 'no'.
