Its population has risen by 10% in the past five years
As Hawke’s Bay’s economy booms and local businesses expand, more and more people are flocking the region for job opportunities or lifestyle change – resulting in severe housing shortage and therefore rise in rents and house values.
The region’s population has risen by 10% in the past five years, already surpassing 160,000 – a shocking increase that has resulted in housing supply and demand imbalance, with values in most places nearly doubling.
Duncan McLean, director of Propertyscouts Hawke’s Bay, noted the influx of migrants with skill shortage visas moving to the region due to its booming commercial sector.
“There’s a lot of people moving to the region just for a change in lifestyle and all of them are coming for work opportunities. That’s the buzz in the Hawke’s Bay at the moment. There’s the extra stress of all the doctors coming in to the hospital, and Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workers coming in for seasonal work – there’s massive demand,” McLean told Landlords.co.nz.
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McLean said there are several large residential developments underway in Napier and Hastings but there’s still huge shortage in other parts of Hawke’s Bay.
“There’s a big block of land in Havelock North called Iona that’s been consented. There’s a Parkvale development in Hastings that’s been consented but hasn’t started. There’s a real shortage,” he said.
On the bright side, increased demand in rentals means investors “can have their pick of quality tenants.”
“There’s a huge tenant pool. We don’t have a large student population like a lot of the other cities, so we don’t have the shorter-term tenants that are in and out with the school year. All of our tenants are long-term tenants so that gives investors stability around the vacancies of those tenancies,” McLean explained.
“I would look more for the family homes, because if anything happens to the RSE workers – for example the Government doesn’t allow them, or if we get a bug that comes in and wipes out the orchards, there’s going to be a huge oversupply of smaller one and two bedroom [dwellings].”
