How Dunedin Landlords Can Reduce Vacancy Periods

For landlords in Dunedin, reduce vacancy periods is important to maintaining rental income and property value, especially in student rentals. On a national level, the housing shortage is over and at the time of writing there is an oversupply of rental properties.

Vacancies in Dunedin have increased over the last few months, especially in student areas. Effective tenant finding needs responsive marketing with quick responses.

In this article we examine the main pillars of good rental property marketing and how they contribute to faster tenant placement, while making sure suitable tenants are placed for your property.

The Financial Impact of Vacancies

Extended vacancies create several challenges for property owners:

• Lost Revenue: Each week of vacancy represents a direct loss of around 2% of your annual rental income.
• Missing the Market Peak:  Dunedin is a very seasonal market with the number of students we have. If your property misses the peak it is harder to tenant. Fortunately, with the new tenancy changes we can now use fixed term tenancies to end tenancies in the beginning of the year again.
• Insurance and Security: Most insurance companies will attach a higher excess to properties with long vacancies.

Core Components of Effective Rental Property Marketing

1. Start with a nice house and high quality media

The first step is to prepare the property for marketing. This means removing all clutter and personal belongings, completing any minor fixes, and tidying up the exterior. A professional cleaner, lawn mowing, and tree work helps set the stage for marketing. This is tougher if there are tenants there who have given notice, which is a good reason to keep the property in good condition, rather than rushing a lot of tidy-ups in the last month of the tenancy.

We don't recommend marketing a property which is being renovated. Prospective tenants generally don't have the vision that house renovators or property investors do when looking at a home, and will get turned off by piles of renovation waste or half-completed flooring.

• Photography is the first impression for any prospective tenants. Professional photography here helps you stand out. We work with several top-quality Dunedin photographers who can produce a set of photos within 1-2 days. Some of our photographers can also
• Virtual tours or video walkthroughs help attract overseas visitors and viewers. It’s also good during winter when it’s harder to visit properties in person. We have an in-house videography service which is included in our property management service.

2. List where the viewers are

Listings should appear on platforms where tenants actively search, such as TradeMe, Realestate.co.nz, and Facebook Marketplace.

TradeMe advertising attracts mainly Dunedin viewers, while international viewers tend to come through Realestate.co.nz. Facebook Marketplace is great for student and lower-end properties.

3. Communications and viewings should be quick and easy

Having been a tenant ourselves several years ago, the main issue we had was getting hold of the agent and setting up viewing appointments at a time which worked for everyone. Here’s what we would suggest as best practice:

• Respond as quickly as practical to any interest
• Set up several viewing times through the week, with a mix of weekday and weekends. We’ve found weeknights to be very good for working tenants and professionals, while weekends are better for properties which are further out of town
• Set up a booking system to remind viewers of the appointment so they don’t forget, and you don’t turn up to your rental for nothing.

4. Hit the right price

Overpricing a property at start leads to a low number of enquiries and turns off serious prospects from booking in for a viewing. Underpricing a property means you earn less right away and over time, under renting the property can leave you with a serious cash-flow deficit. Underpricing doesn't lead to a better quality tenant either.

If you're not sure whether your rental is priced correctly, we can give you a rental appraisal within one working day. ‍

5. Adjust your marketing where needed

If the marketing or pricing isn’t working, make the necessary changes rather than pressing on with no results. Market data from the advertising platform and direct viewer feedback can help with decision making here. You should also consider the time of year, the time left until the property is vacant, and the trend of the market when deciding whether to adjust pricing.

As an example, if the current tenants have several weeks to run, then holding the price when a prospective tenant asks for a discount would be reasonable. However if the home was vacant in the middle of December, accepting a small discount would be a better than going through Christmas with a potential vacancy.

Common Pitfalls To Avoid

We see a few Dunedin landlords unintentionally prolonging vacancies by:

1. Using Bad Photos: This is the #1 issue we see with private listings. Poor lighting or cluttered can make your rental look damp, small, and dark. A good photographer will bring their own lighting and even drones to get you the best photos.
2. Unintentional Bait and Switch: An unintentional bait and switch is where a landlord uses unrealistic or dated photos from several tenancies ago when the property was freshly renovated for advertising. Prospective viewers who turn up at the property then get disappointed once they view in person because the property is substantially worse, and decide not to apply.
3. Incorrect Pricing: Overpricing leads to both low quality tenants and a low number of enquiries.
4. Limiting Advertising: Relying on a single platform is cheaper but reduces reach. TradeMe can be expensive but it’s still the best platform by a long way. We have access to better advertising rates and pass on any advertising discounts we get.
5. Slow Communication: Delayed responses can mean the prospective tenants lose interest in the property or choose another rental.

Rental Property Marketing Case Study - Dunedin CBD

This property was a five-bedroom townhouse in Dunedin CBD on High Street. We listed the property on in late February 2025, and secured a tenant in early March 2025.

Challenges

We were listing into one of the slowest rental markets post-COVID. There were over 50 larger properties listed on the market, the student peak had passed, and many other properties were reducing prices. The property was also being used as an AirBNB during marketing, with limited viewing and marketing access.

Here’s what we did

For the initial preparation and marketing:

• The standout features of our property were the size of the rooms and off-street parking. We engaged a professional photography highlighting natural light, sizing, and the extensive parking on site.
• We did a video tour to highlight the quality of the supplied furnishings and the size of the lounge living areas. This was backed up with a floor plan with measurements, showing the size of the home.
• We used Realestate.co.nz and TradeMe’s Premium 3-week advertising to push our property to the top of the featured page.

We also held two advertised open homes per week, and brought in several groups on private viewings outside of these times to drum up as much interest as possible.

Results

• Tenants secured at our initial asking rent with no discounting
• Vacancies kept to a minimum with less than a week between available date and move-in date.
• Fixed term agreement signed to the owner’s preferred date

Conclusion

Dunedin’s 2025 rental market needs a new approach to avoid vacancies. Landlords who use quality visual marketing, are responsive to market demand, and set up efficient tenant response processes consistently outperform competitors, as we've done with our Dunedin CBD case study where we've secured premium tenants during a market slump.

At Allegiance Property Management, we specialise in these exact strategies for Dunedin properties:

✓ Dunedin-specific expertise – We understand local seasonal trends to time your listings perfectly

✓ Full-service marketing – From professional photography to premium Trade Me placements

Dunedin landlords - Implement these tips yourself, or give me a call on 027 229 3537 - either way, the key is to act quickly and stay in touch with prospective tenants in this year’s tougher market.

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