Property Management
6 min read
The best suburbs to own a rental property in Christchurch are:
We’ve put this list together using Opes Property Management’s rental data, along with our day-to-day experience on the ground.
I’m also not saying that these are the only suburbs worth buying in.
But one of the key questions investors ask is: “If I buy a property, how easy will it be to rent?”
So, this list is specifically looking at the areas where we find it a bit easier to find a tenant.
| Suburb | Average days to find a tenant | Average vacancy when finding your first tenant (days) | Average vacancy between tenants (days) |
| Spreydon | 13 | 10.5 | 4 |
| Edgeware | 10 | 10 | 9 |
| Addington | 19 | 10 | 4 |
| St Albans | 14 | 14 | 4 |
| Kaiapoi | 9 | 7 | 0 |
| Rolleston | 13 | 14 | 5 |
| Belfast | 11 | 10.5 | 4 |
These 7 Christchurch suburbs tend to rent quickly, making them strong options for property investors.
Average days to find a tenant: 13 days
Average vacancy when finding your first tenant: 10.5 days
Average vacancy between tenants: 4 days
Spreydon is one of our most reliable performers because it appeals to the widest range of tenants. I call it the “sweet spot” of the Christchurch rental market.
It’s close to the city but still feels like a proper residential suburb.
It appeals to a wide range of tenants, from families to professionals who work in the CBD but don’t want to live right in town.
It’s this broad appeal that makes Spreydon so reliable.
That said, just under 40% of the people who live in this area rent. This is lower than some other suburbs on this list. But that doesn’t seem to affect Spreydon’s reliability.
It is also one of the more affordable suburbs. That tends to attract tenants reasonably quickly.
Average days to find a tenant: 10 days
Average vacancy when finding your first tenant: 10 days
Average vacancy between tenants: 9 days
I think of Edgeware as the “silent performer”.
It doesn’t always get the same attention as other Christchurch suburbs. But the properties Opes manages there tend to rent well.
Looking at Stats NZ data, 63% of Edgeware residents rent their home. That’s a lot of tenants.
Edgeware is close to the city and still mainly residential. It also sits next to more affluent suburbs like St Albans and Merivale.
So tenants can live near Christchurch’s more expensive suburbs, without paying those higher prices.
Average days to find a tenant: 19 days
Average vacancy when finding your first tenant: 10 days
Average vacancy between tenants: 4 days
Addington is a city-fringe suburb.
In my experience, it appeals more to young professionals than families. That’s partly because the suburb has a mix of old and new housing, commercial areas, and easy access to the CBD.
Addington may take slightly longer to rent than Spreydon or Edgeware ... but its vacancy numbers are still good.
The average property we rent in Addington takes 10 days of vacancy to find its first tenant. That’s because it often takes a few more days’ vacancy when you rent a property for the first time.
The average property then has just 4 days of vacancy between tenants.
One of the reasons for Addington’s strong tenant demand drivers is Christchurch Hospital.
Hospital staff like to live close by. So, this helps create steady demand for modern, low-maintenance rentals.
Tenant demand linked to a major workplace is usually more reliable than demand based on good vibes only. It’s unlikely that the hospital is going to move any time soon.
Of the 5,000 people who live in Addington, a huge 66% of them rent.
Average days to find a tenant: 14 days
Average vacancy when finding your first tenant: 14 days
Average vacancy between tenants: 4 days
St Albans is quite similar to Edgeware. But it would be the more expensive of the two. So, rents are generally higher, all things considered.
But tenants don’t only care about the weekly rent. They also care about how a suburb feels, what it’s known for, and whether it has a good reputation. St Albans has that advantage.
It also means tenants are often willing to pay a bit more to live in this area than in some of the more affordable suburbs on this list.
The trade-off is that a higher rent can slightly narrow the tenant pool. This may explain why vacancy is a little higher than in some of the other suburbs.
It takes an average of 14 days vacancy for a tenant to move in for the first time in St Albans.
42% of people who live in St Albans rent, according to Stats NZ. That’s not as high as Addington or Edgeware, but it is still a strong share.
Average days to find a tenant: 9 days
Average vacancy when finding your first tenant: 7 days
Average vacancy between tenants: 0 days
The fastest-renting properties in our Christchurch portfolio are in Kaiapoi.
The typical property rented in about 9 days. That’s from a property first being advertised on Trade Me, through to a tenant signing a tenancy agreement.
And our data shows that the average property has no vacancy between tenants.
That sounds almost too low, so let me explain how we get that number. In the last 2 years, only 5 of the Kaiapoi properties we rented out needed new tenants. All the other tenants stayed put.
Of those 5 properties, 4 had 0 days’ vacancy. That means that one set of tenants moved out one day. And the new tenants moved in the next day.
The fifth property was vacant for just 2 days before someone else moved in.
Keep in mind that this is a small sample size.
But the bottom line is clear: The properties we rented in Kaiapoi aren’t sitting empty for long.
Now, Kaiapoi is not technically in Christchurch City. It sits north of Christchurch, in the Waimakariri District. But many tenants still see it as part of the greater-Christchurch rental market.
One of the reasons renters move to Kaiapoi is to get more space and a quieter family lifestyle while staying within commuting distance of the city.
That’s why renter-households tend to be families, who favour larger 3-bedroom properties, according to Stats NZ data.
Average days to find a tenant: 13 days
Average vacancy when finding your first tenant: 14 days
Average vacancy between tenants: 5 days
Rolleston has one of the fastest-growing populations in the country.
Often, tenants in Rolleston are a family with children. They tend to rent 3 and 4-bedroom properties, according to Stats NZ.
Renters find that they can move to Rolleston for an almost suburban to rural-ish lifestyle ... while being close to Christchurch.
The Christchurch Southern Motorway means that people can commute from Rolleston to Christchurch in just 15 minutes.
It isn’t the fastest place to get a rental. The median property rented in 13 days, which puts it behind Kaiapoi, Edgeware and Belfast.
But we’ve rented more than 100 properties in Rolleston. Through that experience, we’ve found that the average property has 14 days of vacancy when finding its first tenant.
For context, at the time of writing, we aim for properties to have 28 days of vacancy (or less) when finding their first tenant. The average Rolleston property is doing that in half the time.
Average days to find a tenant: 11 days
Average vacancy when finding your first tenant: 10.5 days
Average vacancy between tenants: 4 days
In areas like Belfast (slightly further out of the CBD) Opes tends to deal more with standalone rentals. Rather than smaller city-fringe townhouses.
Houses here tend to be vacant for just 4 days. That’s the time between one tenant moving out and another one moving in.
This is probably because Belfast mostly deals with families. Like Rolleston and Kaiapoi, you’re more likely to attract a family looking for a larger family home (3 and 4 bedrooms).
We’ve found that properties in these 7 suburbs tend to rent relatively quickly. That means that property investors are likely to have a tenant more often. Which ultimately means more rent in your bank account.
But it doesn’t mean every other suburb is off the table.
A property in Riccarton, the Central City, Sydenham, Linwood or somewhere else can still be a great rental.
It just means the rental market isn’t the same everywhere. And that’s the point.
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Business Development Manager with 5 years Property Management industry experience. Property Investor in Christchurch
Tom Greene is the Business Development Manager at Opes Property Management in Christchurch with over five years of industry experience and is also an experienced property investor. Tom provides tenancy guidance and insight to those both starting and continuing their investment journey.
This article is for your general information. It’s not financial advice. See here for details about our Financial Advice Provider Disclosure. So Opes isn’t telling you what to do with your own money.
We’ve made every effort to make sure the information is accurate. But we occasionally get the odd fact wrong. Make sure you do your own research or talk to a financial adviser before making any investment decisions.
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