Nearly half of landlords say they plan to put up rents because of a move announced in the budget to stop depreciation of buildings as a means of reducing tax.
Analysts were divided after the budget on whether rents were likely to rise because landlords will pay more tax. Some said the market would not allow increases.
An online post-budget survey conducted by ShapeNZ for the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development found that more landlords approved than disapproved of the budget.
Asked if denying depreciation would cause landlords to put up rents, 65 percent of New Zealanders and 69 percent of landlords said yes. Only 17 percent of landlords said no and 14 percent said they did not know.
When landlords alone were asked if they intended increasing their rents as a result of being denied depreciation, 47 percent said yes, 39 percent said no and 13 percent did not know.
The budget also increased funding for Inland Revenue's property transaction audit team, which looks for property speculators who fail to declare the profit as income. Some people buy rundown properties with the intention of selling them at a profit. They claim they are rental properties and never rent then out, tax experts have said.
