"The chronic downturn in house sales has seen people who are struggling to sell, put tenants in the homes instead."
Department of Building and Housing figures show a decrease in the number of bonds lodged in Rotorua over the past year from 3082 in 2010 to 2931.
"Five years ago the number of houses rented out is the exactly the same as now, the demand is much the same but the supply has increased.
"We used to typically show a potential client one or two houses now it's seven or eight."
He also said this influx of rental homes meant tenants were in a position to make an offer and negotiate their lease.
"Just recently I had one client say if the owner put in a heat pump they'll take it, which the owner agreed to. "
Mr Evans said some motel owners were also suffering as a result of the downturn and had converted rooms into rental flats.
Landlord John Hutchinson was struggling to find tenants for his three bedroom Homedale property.
"This one has been advertised for four, five, six weeks now - that's a long time when you owe money to the bank.
"Previously we used to be able to let it the next day it was advertised. We'd like to be more particular with tenants ... but there haven't been tenants around.
"We do credit checks but there's only a certain amount of checking you can do.
"We've very definitely considered selling but we look at what the property owes the bank and what we may get for it and the property market is just as slow."
Another private landlord, who didn't want to be named, had also noticed sluggish interest for his one bedroom Ngongotaha unit.
" I've advertised for three weeks now," he said.
But even though the rental properties are out there, Rotorua's Katrina Heywood has been searching for one for about a month.
She and her family were looking for a warm three or four bedroom home.
She has been looking on Trade Me and in the paper but says some landlords are asking too much.
Katrina Heywood pays $300 for a three bedroom Lynmore home and is looking for something similar before April 11.
"I saw one house advertised on Trade Me for $400 and over the last couple of weeks it's been decreasing in price, obviously they can't get any tenants," she said.
"I'm also in negotiations with two real estate companies at the moment over lowering the price on the properties we're interested in and whether we can have a fixed term agreement to show we're a long-term tenant."
However, Century 21 property manager Pauline Mckechnie had noted an increase in demand for the cheaper end of the property market particularly for student accommodation. Tertiary students had been coming in looking for smaller one and two bedroom units close to town.
"This week we had probably 50 to 60 different Indian students come in and we've got nothing for them, the supply for us isn't there, if anything we're struggling to keep up with the demand."
At LJ Hooker, office manager Moana Corbett said they were struggling to cater for clients wanting high-end homes. They get a couple of enquiries for those homes each day, she said.
"We have in the last three years slowly shifted towards concentrating on the better quality homes in the nicer districts of Rotorua which there is a high demand for.
"We've just moved away from the cheaper properties in the areas of Ford block [Fordlands] or Pohutakawa Drive because it's just not worth the hassle, with late rents or damage to the property."
