Change Is In The Air
Right now I am meant to be at a viewing but alas no one has booked in! At the start of the year, we would put a new listing up and it was all go, phones would be ringing off the hook, emails requesting viewings would start coming in and multiple people would turn up to the house showing… Fast forward to now and there are currently 1363 rental properties available in the Wellington Region, almost double this time last year!
Here is what we have experienced over the last few months, what we are currently experiencing and a bit of crystal ball gazing for the future…
Buckle up for the ride!
The Start Of The Year Was Much Like Any Other
Jan/Feb/March is traditionally Wellington’s “moving season” most years we are rushed off our feet in organised chaos doing exit inspections and viewings, but things were pretty quiet on this front this year. Most of our properties stayed tenanted but we had more properties come onto our books with owners choosing to sell or purchase investment properties. We also had plenty of tenants moving intercity filling up these newly available houses.
We began seeing the rise of the accidental landlord due to their homes not selling at prices expected but we were still able to tenant pretty quickly.
Changes Are Afoot
Almost double the properties are available right now in Wellington compared to the time last year. Owners and tenants are moving overseas freeing up more houses now that the world is open for business. Families are opting for multi-generational living to help with rising living costs… I mean the price for a block of Colby Cheese is $17.89!
The number of people turning up to viewings has dropped, people are still booking in but not always turning up. For the first time in many many years, we have reduced the rents of some of our available properties.
Our Magical Crystal Ball Gazing….
With supply increasing we will likely see reductions in asking rents on available properties, people wanting to bring their living costs down will naturally be on the lookout for a cheaper rental.
For us, it’s about the fine art of balancing the see-saw – at one end we have long term amazing tenants we want to keep but are possibly on the lookout for a cheaper rental and on the other end we have our investors with increasing costs with the worry of vacancy time and reducing rents.
We have lived through many changes over the last 10 years of managing properties – we have stopped counting. We will adjust as we always do to the change and continue to deliver the outstanding service we are well known for to our Rent Ready family!
We are proud to be able to offer a personable end to end service for both tenants and owners, you are not just another number, you are not just another available property.
If you or someone you know needs to discuss their rental options just give us a call today.