What We’re Seeing in the Rolleston Rental Market Right Now

Rolleston has been one of Canterbury’s strongest growth areas for many years, and it continues to be a popular location for both property investors and tenants.

But right now, we’re seeing a rental market that requires landlords to be a little more considered about pricing, presentation and timing.

There is still good demand for quality rental homes in Rolleston, but tenants have choices.And that matters.

One of the biggest changes we’re seeing is the amount of rental stock available. At the time of writing, there are around 50 to 60 properties advertised for rent in Rolleston on Trade Me, with a large proportion being modern three and four-bedroom homes.

For tenants, that’s great news. For landlords, it means your property needs to compete. A modern home in Rolleston is no longer automatically going to attract multiple applications simply because it has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a double garage. There may be several very similar properties available at the same time. The difference between renting quickly and sitting vacant can sometimes come down to surprisingly small things. Price. Presentation. . Availability date. And how the property is marketed.

Rolleston has a significant supply of modern three-bedroom properties, and we’re currently seeing many advertised around the $590 to $640 per week range, depending on their age, location, garaging, heating and overall presentation. That spread is important.

Tenants searching online don’t normally look at one property in isolation. They are comparing your home against everything else available within their budget. If one property is $640 but several comparable homes are available at $600 to $620, the more expensive property needs to give tenants a compelling reason to choose it. Otherwise, enquiries can slow very quickly.

The same applies to four-bedroom homes.A number of current Rolleston four-bedroom rentals are sitting around the mid-$600s, although this varies considerably depending on the home. There will always be exceptions. A particularly large home, premium specification, exceptional outdoor area, additional heating, better garaging or a sought-after location may justify a higher rental. But the market ultimately determines the rent. It is not necessarily what a property achieved previously, what another property achieved six months ago, or what an owner would ideally like to receive.

This is something we talk about regularly with our owners. When a rental property first appears online, it has something extremely valuable, It is new. Tenants who have alerts set up see it. It appears amongst the newest listings. People actively searching the market notice it.

That’s when we want to generate enquiry.

If a property is priced above the market and sits online for several weeks, it can start to become familiar to tenants.
They begin wondering, “Why hasn’t that one rented?”

Reducing the rent later can certainly help, but sometimes the strongest marketing opportunity has already been lost.
That’s why getting the pricing reasonably close from the beginning is so important.

Landlords naturally want to maximise their rental return.So do we. But there is an important distinction between achieving the highest possible rent and simply advertising at the highest possible rent.

Consider a property advertised at $650 per week that remains vacant for an additional two weeks. That’s $1,300 in lost rent. Reducing the asking rent by $10 per week would take 130 weeks to equal that same $1,300. Vacancy is expensive.

Sometimes securing an excellent tenant slightly sooner produces a significantly better annual return than holding out for another $10 or $20 per week.

This isn’t a negative story about Rolleston. Far from it. Rolleston remains an attractive rental location, particularly for families wanting modern homes, good schooling options, outdoor space and access to Christchurch while enjoying the lifestyle Selwyn offers.

Good homes are still renting. What we are seeing is that tenants are becoming more selective. When there are several similar properties available, they will naturally compare price, presentation, location and features before deciding which homes to view.

So demand hasn’t disappeared, It has simply become more competitive.

From what we’re seeing, tenants still respond strongly to homes that offer the things Rolleston renters have come to expect.

• Modern, warm and well-maintained homes.
• Good heating.
• Internal-access garaging.
• Practical storage.
• Secure, usable outdoor areas.
• Good-quality kitchens and bathrooms.
• Neutral, well-presented interiors.
• And increasingly importantly, realistic pricing.

If you already own a rental property in Rolleston, we don’t believe the answer is simply to keep pushing rents higher every time the tenancy changes.

The better question is:

What rent will give this property the strongest overall return while attracting the calibre of tenant we want?
That calculation should consider the current competition, vacancy risk, condition of the property, tenant demand and where your particular home sits within the Rolleston market. Sometimes the answer will be to increase the rent, and sometimes it will be to hold it.

And occasionally, accepting slightly less rent in exchange for an excellent long-term tenant can be the better investment decision.

Good property management isn’t about achieving the biggest weekly number. It’s about protecting the performance of the investment as a whole.

Xclusive Property Management has been managing residential rental properties throughout Rolleston, Selwyn and greater Canterbury since 2010.

We closely monitor the properties coming onto the market, competing rental prices and tenant enquiry so that our owners can make informed decisions rather than relying solely on historical rental figures.

If you’re considering renting a property in Rolleston, or your current property has been sitting on the market longer than expected, we’re always happy to give you our view on where we believe it sits in the current market.

Xclusive Property Management