The Christchurch earthquake has been a terrible time for folks who live there and the incredible pressure loaded on to property managers, as a result, has given all of us in the industry a wake-up call.
Tenants who can no longer live in their house are having to relocate.
Landlords will
need to check they have suitable insurance. Property managers will have to liaise with out-of-town owners and try to help existing tenants. On top of all that, there are dodgy characters impersonating officials and robbing houses, so we are lucky in Rotorua - long may that be the case.
Inquiry levels from people wanting to leave Christchurch have risen and who can blame people for wanting to leave?
We are also seeing landlords who live in Christchurch wanting to come back to their homes here and we are sure that will be happening throughout the country. That will ease the oversupply here and add to the chaos of the Auckland rental market.
The red-hot rental market in Auckland has not been reflected in Rotorua and, as the level of available rental housing has continued to creep up, we are seeing rent levels settle down. It's called "the marketplace" and property managers have no control over that.
Property investors continue to buy well. We are seeing buyers getting bargains and the present buyers' market seems set to run for a while yet.
These are tough times for sellers and a great time for buyers. That is called "the market" and nobody has yet figured out a way to change or influence it, but a fortune awaits the person who does.
- Richard Evans, of Rotorua Rentals and member of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand property management group.
