A slew of recent articles and data releases have suggested the property market has skewed in favour of renters. The supply of available rentals has hit a 10-year high. But does that really mean renters have power? 

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“I’m struggling,” long-time landlord Peter Ambrose told The Post in February. It had been difficult to find a tenant for his six-bedroom rental in Aro Valley, part of a “significant portfolio” that in the past has been “snapped up”. The scene was set by the headline, “Rents fall as landlords face up to changed reality”. Data from Trade Me property listings was used to illustrate that demand and supply dynamics in the market had changed – residential listings nationwide were up 40% year-on-year. The rent prices on Trade Me had stayed flat, but Ambrose said he’d dropped the rent on his six-beddy by 20%. 

Similar articles followed. In March, word on RNZ was that landlords were sweetening the deal with $500 grocery vouchers or a free week’s rent. A property manager suggested homehunters could try asking for a discount. In April, landlords were in “pain” as Trade Me data showed property listings hit a 10-year high and nationally, the median rent was down by 2.3% year-on-year. In the press release, Trade Me Property customer director Gavin Lloyd said people looking for rentals should feel empowered, “tenants have more negotiating power than they have had in years.” A property investment coach told RNZ that “we have a renter’s market,” and 1News also used the term. 

In May there was “more good news for tenants”, realestate.co.nz listings showed a 10-year high and the national average rent was down $14 a week. A spokesperson said if you saved it all up for a year you could get a nice three-seater sofa or have a weekend away. Just last week, renters were said to be “in a prime position” because the time to fill a property is getting longer. 

According to media outlets and those in the property industry, renters should be celebrating right now. For perhaps the first time ever, they may just hold the power. After decades of caving in floors, black mould, respiratory illnesses, rashes, constantly humming dehumidifiers, rat-gnawed walls, lion splashbacks, ignored Tenancy Tribunal orders, mushrooms (not for eating), landlord specials and paying way too much of their income just to live somewhere, renters can finally push back.

But is it even real? Or is it impossible to have a renter’s market in a landlord’s world?

Data may show an increase in supply and a flattening of rent prices, but it’s hard to square the idea of a renter’s market in a country that has been facing a growing housing crisis since the early 2000s. New Zealand has one of the least affordable housing markets in the world, and for over two decades, average rental prices have only ever increased, with one exception – they stayed flat in 2010 after the global financial crisis.

Angela Maynard, coordinator of the Tenants Protection Association in Auckland, rejects the notion that there is a renter’s market. “They [tenants] are in no position of power at all,” she says, “especially under this government.”

Maynard thinks that any power tenants may have had has been lost with the reinstatement of no-cause 90-day evictions. At the end of January this year, amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act came into effect allowing landlords to end a periodic tenancy without giving a reason as long as they give 90 days’ notice. It means that tenants “feel vulnerable all the time” and so they may not fight for their basic legal rights, let alone ask for lower rents. 

“It’s a landlord’s world in this country,” says Maynard. At the Tenants Protection Association, requests for support are coming in as frequently as ever. Many of them are about landlords refusing to maintain properties, in which case Maynard helps people take their case to the Tenancy Tribunal to get a work order. It’s not an easy process, as the Residential Tenancies Act is “very landlord friendly,” she says.

Laura Drew, from the housing team at Community Law Wellington and Hutt Valley, says “there’s always an inherent power imbalance in renting. One person is just looking for somewhere to live, and one person is making money from that.” She says the culture and conditions of the market mean that tenants are always trying to impress their landlords rather than negotiating or bartering. “The reality is that most people don’t feel empowered to do that.”

Instead of renters having power, she sees landlords refusing to pay for maintenance, even when there’s holes in the roof and water is “cascading down”, landlords charging a “decent amount” of rent for places that are “just garages” and landlords unfairly withholding bonds at the end of tenancies. “It’s pretty appalling what some landlords will do to make money,” she says. 

While landlords are bemoaning the increased supply and increased time and effort to find tenants, it’s hitting some renters equally hard. When people want to leave fixed term tenancies early, one solution is to find a replacement tenant. Drew says it’s been harder for tenants to find replacements and “we’re seeing a lot more people stuck in situations where they want to move on in their life, but they have a tenancy they can’t leave or end.” 

Drew says that “maybe” there is some scope for people beginning new tenancies to negotiate their rent, but overwhelmingly the increase in supply in the market does not change most people’s situations. She says that at Community Law Wellington and Hutt Valley they are still seeing people who have been given significant rent increases that they will struggle to pay.

The situation they face is difficult because moving can be costly and time-consuming, but countering the increase through the Tenancy Tribunal is “really hard”. You need time and energy and proof that the increase is not in line with the market. Even if tenants haven’t been given rent increases, it’s unlikely that the flat or slightly decreased market rent makes the cost and hassle of moving worth it.

Jon Harris, the managing director at Harper Properties, a property management company in Auckland, says that in the last six months, conversations in the office about rent reviews have changed. “In the past, it’s always been like, ‘Hey, this should go up,’” says Harris. The increases, set to match the market, would have been five, six or seven percent “without breaking a sweat”. Now when Harris reviews rents he is finding that tenants are already paying the market rate and isn’t recommending increases. 

Harris says rents are “still very strong”. He says that six or 12 months ago when discussing rents with landlords they would be “bullish”, now they’re taking a slightly more bearish approach. They’re telling people, in person and through materials on their website, that there’s a softer market because there’s more properties available. Still, he says the change to rents are “in the scheme of things, pretty minimal”. 

The biggest change he has seen is the time it’s taking to secure new tenants. Harris says a year or two ago, Harper Properties’ listings would have multiple applications from tenants with “good character” within one or two days. Within three or four days a tenancy agreement would be signed. That is no longer the case. “Now, we’re having to work a lot harder to secure a good tenant, and instead of days, it’s taking weeks and weeks.” He advises landlords to differentiate their property by allowing pets, getting good photos, maintaining a property well, having good appliances and, of course, good property managers. 

Harris says on the whole, “our clients are receptive to being slightly more realistic, and that is probably a reflection of them needing to have a tenant”. But while the market isn’t hot as it has been in the last decade, “I’m not saying it’s dropping, ​​and the sky is falling on our industry. I’m just saying it’s cool.”

While headlines are shouting about a renter’s market, and landlords claim they’re struggling, not much has changed for the vast majority of renters. If you’re looking for a new home now, you might just be more likely to be allowed to bring a furry friend with you.