Landlords who are prepared to furnish their properties will earn more than if they rent them as empty homes.
According to Barfoot & Thompson, central Auckland properties in particular see the highest demand for furnished properties, most likely due to new arrivals needing somewhere to live until their own furniture arrives on a container ship.
Tracey Boyle, property manager at the firm’s City branch, says the majority of rental properties her branch manage are unfurnished.
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“There is absolutely a high demand for furnished properties in the central city,” says Boyle. “The majority of tenants in our area are looking for furnished homes that they can move right into, and about 80 per cent of the properties that Barfoot & Thompson City branch manage are furnished.
“This is reflective of the transient nature of a large number of Auckland CBD renters, which includes students and international work-visa holders. It can be more difficult to find tenants for properties in this area that are unfurnished.”
To illustrate the potential cost benefits of furnishing a rental property, Boyle ran the numbers using the cheapest prices from a nationwide chain of appliances and furniture for the most common items.
According to figures supplied by Barfoot & Thompson, a fully furnished one bed home will earn $65 more a week than a similar sized unfurnished property, and a three bed furnished home will bring in $135 more a week; or $7020 a year. The realtor estimates that fully furnishing a one bed apartment will cost $7,500 and take 2 years 3 months to recoup (assuming no repairs / replacements are required).
The most popular furnished rentals at the branch are one bed properties, with a quarter of all its one bed rentals being furnished.
“Forty per cent of all apartments that we manage are furnished properties,” she says.
Boyle says furnished properties are favoured by students and recent arrivals to Auckland, as they like the ease of moving into a home already set up for their needs.
Although three bedroom properties receive 25 per cent more income than unfurnished, these only make up 2 per cent of all its managed three bed rentals.
