November 2015 Auckland rental return comparison

A review of our data on sales and tenancies for three bedroom Auckland properties over the last year, shows that rental yields continue to drop, as house values increase at a greater rate than rent.

  • In the past 12 months, the average three bedroom house sold by Barfoot & Thompson has increased by $152,039 to $843,424
  • The average house price increased by 21.99% in the past 12 months, compared to the previous year, which saw an increase of 10.48%
  • Yield has dropped on average by nearly 0.5%

What is yield?

Yield comes from the rental money received from tenants. It's the rent a property could provide over a year, expressed as a percentage of its purchase price. Find out more about yield.

Auckland yield changes (three bedroom properties)

Please scroll data
Month Average weekly rent Average house price Gross yield
At 1 December 2013 $456 $625,775 3.79%
At 1 December 2014 $476
$691,385 3.58%
At 1 December 2015  $503  $843,424  3.10% 
12 month increase (2014-2015)
$27 (5.67%) $152,039 (21.99%) -0.48%
Previous year (2013-2014) $20 (4.39%)  $65,610 (10.48%)  -0.21% 

Highest yield

The highest yield for this period was in Wellsford.

Approximately an hour out of central Auckland, Wellsford hasn't been as strongly affected by the recent price increases seen throughout Auckland.

However with an average rental of $364 (for a 3 bedroom property), returns for investors are higher than average.

Lowest yield

Orakei had the lowest yield for this period. With the average price of a three bedroom house hitting $2,256,429, and with an average rental of $649, the resulting yield was just 1.5%. We sell many multi-million dollar properties in Orakei, but the area also contains some cheaper properties that are used as rentals.

See a full breakdown of yield in the November 2015 suburb tables.

Scatter chart showing the average house price in Auckland against the average yield.

Source: Barfoot & Thompson analysis of its new and current tenancies as at 1 December 2015 and its sales over the last six months to beginning of December 2015 for three bedroom properties. Yield calculated using average sales price and average rental per week for three bedroom properties. Suburbs with less than four tenancies or four sales for three bedroom properties with Barfoot & Thompson are not included. Excludes Northland and Commercial. Three bedroom homes were chosen for the analysis as they represent the sized house most commonly bought and sold.

Find out more about the Auckland housing market

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