Landlords told they have to work harder to keep tenants as rents fall

Wednesday, 17 September 2025

A raft of rental market data shows the national rent as either flat or falling.

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Residential rental market dynamics have changed, and landlords need to understand they have to work harder for their returns, a tenancy consultant says.

A suite of recent rent data shows that on a national basis, rent prices have now been flat or falling for a sustained period of time.

Trade Me Property’s latest data, out on Tuesday, showed the national median rent steady at $620 a week in August, for the third month in a row.

Last week Realestate.co.nz’s data had the average weekly rental price down 3.0% annually to $628 a week in August. That marked the lowest it has been since September 2023.

And the latest bond data from Tenancy Services, released earlier this month, showed the median national rent had fallen to $590 a week, after hovering at $600 and then $595 for the previous six months.

At the same time, the amount of properties listed for rent nationwide remained elevated. There were 6700 listings in August, up 16% from the same time last year, and listings were up in many regions, including Auckland and Wellington, according to Realestate.co.nz.

Landlords have to work harder

Tenancy consultant Sarina Gibbon, from Tenancy Advisory Limited, said the decline in rents around most of the country was leading to a rebalancing of the relationship between landlords and tenants.

Tenants had more rental choices available to them, and they were exercising that choice, she said.

“Landlords are having to work harder to get ‒ and keep ‒ tenants. They need to understand that it is a much more competitive market, and they need to work to get their returns.

“They can no longer put up a crappy listing with iPhone 3 photos of a substandard rental. That doesn’t cut the mustard any more. To get good tenants a rental needs to tick the ‘have to have’ box these days.”

Landlords had to provide well-maintained properties that were fully healthy homes compliant, and offer more favourable terms, such as allowing pets, in their tenancy agreements, she said.

There is more choice for tenants in the current rental market, Tenancy Advisory’s Sarina Gibbon says.

“If not, tenants are not interested, and there is even a ‘break lease’ issue where tenants on fixed-term agreements are breaking their lease and moving on for better options.”

Property Investors Federation spokesman Matt Ball said it was a difficult time to be a landlord, as it was for many Kiwi businesses struggling with increasing costs.

Rates, insurance, maintenance and mortgage interest had gone up and rents had not kept pace, with Wellington and Auckland hit particularly hard, he said.

“In areas where rents have increased, this has only helped offset rising costs. Where rents have fallen, landlords have to accept a lower income from their investment or are having to use other income to cover expenses not covered by rent.”

Looking ahead, falling interest rates would help ease some of the cost pressure, but there was no sign of a general nationwide increase in rents, he said.

“Even if rents do go up, they won't match the cost increases over recent years.

“But a subdued housing market means there are opportunities for investors to buy properties at a lower price and generate a reasonable return, even with lower rents.”

Rent declines broadbased

There was variance in regional prices across the data, with Realestate.co.nz’s showing price falls in all the main urban centres while Trade Me’s had prices down or flat in every region except Otago and Southland.

Wellington rents took the steepest plunge in every data set, down 8.5% annually to a median of $595 in Trade Me’s data, and down 11.8% annually to an average of $599 in Realestate.co.nz’s.

While Auckland’s rent decline was not as steep it was also notable. Trade Me had the region’s median down 2.2% to $660, and Realestate.co.nz had it down 2.3% to $684.

Barfoot & Thompson’s Auckland specific rental data further highlighted the trend. It had the region’s average rent flat on $694.34 in August, barely changed from $694.59 in July, and up just 1.5% from the same time last year.

Gibbon said Wellington and Auckland were definitely feeling the negative rent growth the most, but the trend was much broader and not unique to those regions.

The changed market dynamic was something that landlords around the country needed to think about, she said.

Realestate.co.nz’s data had rents in Otago, Canterbury and Waikato down by 3.9%, 2.1%, and 0.6% to weekly averages of $618, $588 and $564 respectively.

In Trade Me’s data, Otago rents were up 5.8% to $685, the most expensive in the country, while Canterbury rents were flat on $590 and Waikato’s were down 0.9% to $580.