THE APARTMENT REVIVAL
Turning back the clocks to mid-2020, we saw Covid-19 and lockdown, rental freezes and experts predicting property price plummets. A year on the market is soaring, with median prices up nationwide by nearly 25% year-on-year (according to REINZ data for April). A year ago, the inner city of Auckland was a wasteland. Foreign students had fled back home, and you could see the tumbleweeds blowing down Queen St. It was a terrible time for investors in this market: within one week, over 1,200 apartments were vacated. Investors dropped their rents, new tenants were securing apartments for under $200 a week, and the future was unsure. But fast forward to 2021, and the market is up and running again. Now tenanted by local university students, and renters who work in the city and…