March 2026 - Lowest Number of Rentals for Two Years

What’s the news?

Yes, we currently have the lowest number of Auckland rental properties advertised on Trademe for nearly two years. The last time we were lower than this weeks 5248 for rent was May 21st 2024. Whew, so the tough times are over? Well it does look like things are going in the right direction, and in most areas we are having no trouble to rent properties promptly.

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The truth is that this is one of the seasonal low points of the year and we would expect the number of available rental properties to increase into winter from now on. Really this drop just means that things should improve for landlords over the 2026 year. We have noticed that the number of properties for sale in Auckland have risen to high levels and it does seem as though the town-houses which were put into the rental supply for a time are now going back up for sale.

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‍What this means

There is no denying that a fall of 1298 properties from the high of 6569 in November is making a difference. Normally we would expect that things might get even better in Spring, but the election this year in November will probably make the rental market quiet down as it does every three years. So we will see what happens this year, but the level of rents should stabilise now.

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The spread of demand is a little odd as well. Overall the number of rentals available is 7% down on one year ago, but not for 1 bd units which are up 3%. But each larger sized unit is down progressively more, so 2 bd are down 3.9%, 3 bd are down 9.8%, 4 bd down 12.8%, and for the 5 bd or larger properties the supply is down 16.7%. Perhaps people are taking advantage of the stable rent levels and moving to more comfortably sized rentals?