Rental Update – May 2025

The Rental Market – May 2025

There’s a lot of noise out there right now about New Zealand’s rental market. While I can’t speak for the entire country, I can certainly share what’s happening here in Auckland — and hopefully shed some light to help you make smart decisions with your investment property for the next 12–24 months.
(That said, much of this insight will likely apply elsewhere too.)

To describe the rental market in two words: extremely challenging.

In Auckland, weekly rents are down 3% on average (Trade Me Property, May 2025).
There are fewer tenants actively searching. There are more properties available than in recent years. New developments are still coming to market weekly. And rents continue to slide as a result.

In short, the strong rental conditions we’ve enjoyed over the past 5–6 years have run aground — and tenants know it. They’re shopping around, being more selective, and asking what more can be offered to entice them: cheaper rents, flexible move-in dates, supermarket vouchers, even one or two weeks’ rent-free periods.

So what can we do about it?

There are three key ways to attract quality tenants — and they all work together:

Three Ways to Attract Quality Tenants in 2025

High-Quality, Accurate Marketing Photos:
If professional photos are standard when selling homes, why do rental listings so often miss the mark? Accurate photography and a walkthrough video can dramatically boost interest and the perceived value of your property.
Accessible Viewing Times:
Not everyone is available at 10 am or 3 pm on a weekday. Parents, shift workers, and students all have busy schedules. Offering multiple viewings per week — at lunchtime, after work, and weekends, plus virtual viewings for out-of-towners — gives your property the best chance of being seen by the right tenants.
Fair and Strategic Pricing:
Price remains the most powerful lever — and one we must use carefully.
Take your standard 3-bedroom, 1-bath home with a couple of car parks and some land.
At $2,000 per week, we will struggle. At $200 per week, it would be snapped up in an instant.
Our responsibility is to find the price point that balances minimal vacancy with a strong, sustainable return — without compromising tenant quality.

To put it in perspective:
If your property was appraised between $690-$650 per week, each week a property sits vacant can cost around $650+ in lost rent.

If it takes six weeks to secure a tenant at $690 per week, your annual rental income (46 weeks of rent) would be $31,740.
But if we secure a tenant in just two weeks at $650 per week, your annual rental income (50 weeks of rent) would be $32,500.

In other words, chasing a higher rent could actually leave you earning less over the year.
Minimizing vacancy — not maximizing asking rent — will ultimately protect your investment best in this market.

When we find a tenant who looks promising, we must be ready to act quickly.
While we may be their top choice, tenants can still take the first offer they receive. In a market like this, speed matters.

The conditions are tough, but with a smart strategy, a proactive approach, and a little flexibility, landlords can still succeed in tenanting their property and avoiding downtime.

The most dangerous sentence in todays market is “it used to rent at this price, so I want you to do that again.”