5 minutes with Beth Chisholm from Ray White Queenstown

Property Manager Beth Chisholm has been working in real estate for more than 18 years and with Ray White Queenstown for 13 of those. She has a strong knowledge of the local rental market and has seen many changes over time. Chisholm believes that there are many factors contributing to the current state of Queenstown’s rental market beyond just an increase in population post-Covid.

Chisholm noted that in the past there would be an influx of properties available in the months leading up to winter, but with seasonal workers opting to stay on during the summer this availability decreased slightly. She says that rent prices returning to pre-Covid levels or slightly above due to inflation, but noted that homeowners took a hit for the duration of the pandemic.

“There are some really desperate people out there and I feel sad,” says Chisholm. “I like to involve my owners in the selection process, too. Years ago, if you applied for a rental, the first question asked was ‘Do you have a job?’, now if you apply for a job they ask ‘Have you got somewhere to live?’. It’s totally reversed.”

While exact figures on empty properties in Queenstown are hard to find, reports vary from 20% to more than a quarter of homes sitting unoccupied. Chisholm believes that this is, in part, due to the government’s strict legislation around rental agreements – there are only certain circumstances in that tenants can be given notice, such as the homeowners selling or moving into the property for at least 90 days. She says this means people are less likely to rent out their holiday homes when they’re not using them.

Recently, Chisholm received an email for one of her advertised long-term rentals from someone who ran Airbnbs, boasting about the returns that could be made and how much more beneficial it would be for the homeowner to do this. It made her wonder how many other rental properties are receiving this kind of attention.

“Owners may not know the implications of going Airbnb and the GST when you earn over so much, as well as the implications if you sell the property. I don’t know if the council need to do some research on individual Airbnb properties, just making sure they’re consented. Another thing that attracts people to Airbnb is that they don’t have to have Healthy Homes Standards.”