Thursday news in brief

Auckland’s suburban apartment market booming

Apartments in Auckland’s suburbs are growing in popularity with rising prices and sales volume nearing that of city fringe apartments, according to a new survey.

The Colliers International survey found the asking price per square metre for suburban Auckland apartments increased by 15% in the six months to December 216. This compares to 2% price growth in CBD and city fringe apartments.

While city fringe apartments recorded the highest sales volume, with $144 million of sales, suburban apartments were a close second with $142 million of sales.

Colliers International spokesperson Will Coates said the survey shows a significant shift in demand for apartments. “Purchasers are moving away from the traditional CBD unit and looking to city fringe and suburbs for high quality apartments to replace the family home.”

Read more: Apartment attraction on the rise

Debate over rent bidding app

Recent confirmation that controversial US-based rent bidding app, Rentberry, will be heading to New Zealand has prompted opposition from tenant advocates.

Renters United spokesperson Kayla Healey told media that such apps could drive up rents up even higher in a market that renters can already barely afford. “It's dangerous because I think out of desperation people are going to offer more than they can afford."

But Rentberry chief executive Alex Lubinsky said the app wouldn’t necessarily lead to that outcome because many landlords are more concerned with finding quality tenants than they are with prices.

He said the app pulls together all the aspects of finding and leasing a rental property into one system and, therefore, has benefits for both landlords and tenants.

Read more: Auckland rental market under pressure 

Sharing economy investment returns

Curious about how fast an investor might recover their investment in peer to peer (P2P) businesses? A new global study by P2P motorhome provider, SHAREaCAMPER, offers up some answers.

The 2017 Return on Investment Index identifies which cities around the world offer the highest return on asset investment via rental P2P platforms like Airbnb. And it turns out Wellington and Auckland both offer a good rate of return.

Both the Capital (2) and the Super City (5) are ranked in the five best cities to pay off an investment across all business models of the sharing economy. It seems that New Zealand also offers the highest returns for investors on P2P money lending platforms.

SHAREaCAMPER CEO Florian Dahlmann said the research shows that you don’t need to charge exorbitant rental rates to pay off your investment. “We hope this research encourages development in more hesitant markets."

Read more: Looking beyond the Airbnb glitter