Sarina Gibbon: Auckland Property Investors' Association Spokesperson on landlords offering incentives to prospective tenants

A property investor advocate says landlords should consider lowering their rents, rather than offering incentives. 

Changes in the market have seen landlords offer prospective tenants sweeteners like grocery vouchers and free weeks of rent to try to lure them in. 

But Sarina Gibbon from the Auckland Property Investors' Association told Andrew Dickens she's not sure incentives work. 

She says if you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig, and the better option is for landlords to look realistically about what they're expecting for a property. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It wasn't long ago that people looking for a rental
property we're fighting off hundreds of other applicants to find
a home to rent. It was tough, but that tide
has turned. There are so many rentals available that some
landlords are offering incentives. Some are saying, come and rent
my place. I'll give you a five hundred dollars grocery voucher.
Others are offering three weeks of rent to sign tenants up.

(00:20):
So how big is the gap between supply and demand?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
And why?

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Serena Gibbon is from the Auckland Property Investors Association and Joints.
So now goodbrying to you, Serena.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Good morning, Andrew, how are you?

Speaker 1 (00:31):
I'm good? So is this common as landlord's offering incentives
all over the place?

Speaker 3 (00:36):
I wouldn't say it's terribly common. I think the fact
that we're starting to hear stories of these incentives popping
up around the marketplace just tells us how out of
line some landlords rent expectations are in terms of the market.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
So for those who do go for the sweeteners, do
they work.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
On a case by case basis?

Speaker 3 (00:57):
I hope they work, But in general, I think look
at the end of the day, Andrew, if you put
a lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig, right,
So I think the better option for landlords is really
look at resetting their into expectations. Also look at incentivizing
the tenants by upgrading their properties and lifting the property's standards.
So that's a more attractive option for someone to call

(01:18):
a home. And I think for tenants, given all of
these choices, you know, rather than being distracted by a
five hundred dollars food voucher, research the landlord, go on
the tendency tribe, you know, find out what kind of
landlords are they going to be dealing with, Research the properties,
compare the options that are out there, because it's a
really good time to take advantage of that competitive edge.

(01:39):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
The problem though, of upgrading your property is that's even
more expensive than a five hundred dollars grocery voucher, So
it's hitting the imagins.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Well. Not all upgrades would buy.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Not all upgrades will be backbreaking in terms of financial commitment,
and if you do it, if you do it smartly,
it could be incredibly cos sufficient attractive to the tenants
and will add value to the property. So I wouldn't
write that off straight away. I guess what I'm trying
to say is, you know, landlords and tenants are bit
off looking for long term benefits rather than short term sweetness.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Okay, so when did we start to see a change
from the rental shortage that we got used to before
to and oversupply. Did the change in government bring back
the investors and the landlords? Are they more properties online?

Speaker 2 (02:22):
I wouldn't peg it with the change of government.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
I would however, say that around about a year ago
we started hearing stories of properly using vacant for longer
open homes being you know, not really having a lot
of people visiting. So but I think that is really
much in line with the economy very lock stamp or
with you know, and exodus of the younger workforce from

(02:46):
New Zealand to the likes of Australia and the UK.
You suddenly have a bottoming out of tenant, the tenant
a certain cord of tenants. But also, you know, when
I think back to back in the post COVID days
when we're going around the country madly building infill terrace housings,
you know what we're hearing is a lot of those

(03:08):
terrat housings are sitting empty, either as properties will sale
or property for rent.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
I have one last question, hopefully you can answer quickly.
There's a truism that rents never go down, they just
don't go up so fast. Could this gluck possibly see
a drop in rental prices?

Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah, I think it definitely could see a dropping rental
prices in the short term. Hope it doesn't last long.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Of course. And Serena Gibbon is from the Auckland Property
Investors Association. For more from early edition with Ryan Bridge.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
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