Mike Atkinson: Aspire Property Management Managing Director on the national average rent falling

Rents are falling, with the national average hitting the lowest point since September of 2023. 

It’s sitting at $628, with Wellington being hit the hardest, with a drop of 11.8%, while Auckland fell 2.3%.  

New rental listings also surged 16% year on year, with 6,700 in August. 

Aspire Property Managing Director Mike Atkinson told Mike Hosking Wellington in particular is facing some specific economic challenges, as well as the ones faced by the rest of the country. 

He says that the culling of public service jobs, consultants, and contractors has reduced the numbers of people who need to live in the Wellington City area, impacting rents. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Got a new rental down to this morning, good news
for the renter drop across the board the national average
down to six twenty eight, lowest since September of twenty three,
Wellington down almost twelve percent, Aukland down two point three.
Listings are up sixteen percent year on year. Mike Atkinson
is managing director of the Spire Property as well as
Mike Morning.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
These monthly numbers, especially in a place like Wellington, are
they noise or we actually got some sort of trend
going on here on a monthly basis.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
I think we do actually have a bit of a
trend happening, in particular in Wellington. You know, they're facing
all the same economic headwinds that the whole country is facing,
but some more specific ones as well, with all the
public service jobs that have gone nine five hundred jobs
have gone there in the last two years and Nationals
cutting back on all the consultants and contractors of slashed

(00:50):
spending thereby one hundred and seventy five million, So that's
a lot of people that sort of don't need to
be living in the Wellington City area anymore.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
So if there's a fall is the robottom.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
I think in the Auckland market. We've seen the listenings
starting to come back down, so I think we may
be getting close to the bottom at the moment. Everything
always picks up a bit in the summer months, so
there'll be some temporary release there.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Okay, the sixty seven hundred listings for the month of August,
where do they all come from?

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Oh, that's just people that aren't able to find a
tenant basically. So when the properties stay online, that number
goes up.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
So it's really more listings, it's not suddenly there's a
whole bunch of houses suddenly coming to the market.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Well, I do think there is an increase in actual
overall supply. You know, you see all this townhouse developments
happening right across the country over the last two or
three years, and they are coming onto the market. So
it's a combination of both.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Okay, they're better deals out there. I mean, what's your
advice to rent is? I mean, good for rent is
not so good for landlords?

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, I mean my advice to tenants is that rents
are definitely negotiable at the moment, and my advice to
landlords is to work with the tenants that you do
have and really value them. Similar to a commercial tenant.
You don't just replace a tenant if you have a
mind dis agreement.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah, exactly, all right, Mike good and so I appreciate it.
Mike out Cans, Inspire Property Managing director.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
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