"I remember there was a point where there were sort of three, four, five, six properties available on Trade Me and that was it," local Harcourts Property Management business manager Paul Hibbett says.
"Last year was high demand, low supply, and now it’s just high supply and low demand."
As to what he attributes this to, Hibbett refers to "tons of people sort of leaving Queenstown for better-paid jobs and lower rent, the ski season being a bit of an anti-climax, until the end, obviously, and there’s just houses popping up all over the show in Hanley’s Farm".
Adding to the high supply, he says, is people flipping their Airbnbs into long-term lets.
"The new GST law [on all Airbnb bookings] was introduced this year, which I think had a fairly significant impact on a lot of people, especially with bookings being down as well.
"I think there’s a few people just realising [Airbnb’s] not as much of a get-rich-quick scheme anymore, as it used to be.
"Plus, cleaning costs are so expensive at the moment — it’s just barely worth it, really, when you sort of put all the overheads together."
Housemart director Hayley Stevenson notes a number of tourism and hospo employers have leased or bought flats for their staff, which has also freed up rental supply.
She says, unlike the past year or two, we’ve had a pronounced shoulder season of late.
"A lot of businesses haven’t carried their staff right through, so we’ve seen quite a few leave."
As to whether rents are softening as demand drops, Hibbett says rental digs "have to be priced fairly appropriately now".
"Gone are the days of being able to shift a three-bedroom house for $1500 a week."
On whether this renters’ market persists, Pure Property business manager Mark Blake says "the ‘lull’ in the current market is expected to be just that".
"It’s a rarity for tenants to have a choice of property as it’s usually the owners with the choice of tenants.
"The current influx of new completions in areas such as Hanley’s Farm has added more stock than usual to the market.
"We should see a slowdown in that as summer holidays for builders are coming close."
