Market Composition

The rental market in South Auckland is made up of mostly houses, with a significant amount of flats but not many apartments.

Only three areas do not have a majority of houses. Papatoetoe South has the greatest representation of apartments, at 27% and has another 33% flats, while the only other area with apartments is Otahuhu with less than 10%. Otahuhu comprises over 60% of its rental market with flats, while Papatoetoe West is made of 46% flats.

Both Otara and Wattle Downs/Conifer Grove’s rental markets are exclusively houses while Mangere is also heavily dominated by houses with over 90% represented by this property type here.

As is common across the country, three bedroom houses are the most prevalent in the South Auckland rental market. Every area within South Auckland has at least 50% three bedroom houses, with Otahuhu having the largest representation at 73% and Mangere East (70%) and Papatoetoe North (69%) not far behind.

Two and four bedroom houses are also relatively prevalent across the region. Manukau and Manurewa Heights tends towards the larger houses with 38% of its market four bedroom houses (topped up with another 10% houses with five or more bedrooms) while the balance, other than three bedroom houses, in Papatoetoe West (34.6%), Mangere East (30%) and Otahuhu (27%) are only two bedroom houses.

Five (or more) bedroom houses make up roughly 10% of each of the rental markets in Otara, Manurewa North and Papatoetoe South.

Rent And Yield

Median weekly rent across the region ranges from $450 in Manurewa North to $500 in Papatoetoe North, for 10 out of the 11 areas included. Manukau and Manurewa Heights is the only area outside that range at $535.

Otara has the lowest median value at $522,850, while in the Mangere Bridge/ Airport area the average value is $817,800. Interestingly the median rent in these two places is very similar, only $10 more in Mangere Bridge/Airport. This in turn produces contrasting gross yield figures of a pitiful 3.1% in Mangere Bridge/Airport, compared with the more appealing 4.8% in Otara.

Unsurprisingly all other areas sit between these figures – with most hovering around 4.0%. Papatoetoe South is the only other area that has drifted significantly from that 4.0%, with the second highest median value of $738,250 and relatively low rent of $485 providing a potential gross yield of only 3.4%.

Rent has increased across the region, except in Mangere Bridge/Airport where median rent dropped 1.0%. In Otara and Mangere annual rental growth has hit double figures with 17.1% and 10.7% increases respectively.