The rental market in Auckland Central has historically been quite competitive, with high demand for apartments and townhouses.
Like many other cities around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on the Auckland rental market, with landlords reducing their rental prices in response to decreased demand from tenants. The decline was on average at 15% throughout the city varying between certain buildings.
With borders being open since November last year, the rental CBD market has gradually begun reviving back with the overall stock decline by approximately 20 apartments per week net. At that point, the city had just over 500 apartments online.
We felt the market started showing early signs of recovery however we did not expect that the market would “explode” in the last 4 weeks, with a number of enquiries and viewings. To give an idea of what was happening, here are some numbers for you to comprehend:
- Over 600 viewers per listing within the first 12 hours of being online
- Over 100 watchlisters within the first 12 hours
- Every set viewing books up at its full capacity within the first 24 hours.
- Approx 5 applications per viewing.
- The average number of days the advert was online decreased from 27 days down to 13.
- The total number of available listings in the city reduced from 521 to 318 within 5 weeks.
The past 6 weeks have been a perfect storm among renters and it is likely to continue for the next 6 weeks or a bit longer (looking into my crystal ball).
Overall, the rental market in CBD is likely to continue to be competitive and dynamic, with prices and demand fluctuating depending on a range of factors, including economic conditions, population growth, changes in lifestyle, and unfortunately, recently-learned natural disasters.