"Which Invercargill suburb has the best yield?" is one of the most common investor questions, and it's harder to answer than it sounds. Rent is only half of the calculation. The other half is the price you pay, which depends on the specific house. So this page does two things: it shows what houses actually rent for across Invercargill, and it shows the price you'd need to pay to reach the yield you want.
What houses rent for, by suburb
These are typical weekly rents for houses on new tenancies over the 12 months to June 2026, from the Government's Tenancy Services bond data. Suburbs are listed alphabetically and figures are rounded to the nearest $10. Where an area has fewer than about 45 new tenancies in the year, it's marked as a small sample and should be read as a rough guide only.
| Area | Typical weekly rent | New tenancies, 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| Appleby | $420 | 123 |
| Avenal | $440 | 66 |
| BluffSmall sample | $440 | 15 |
| Central Invercargill | $410 | 69 |
| CliftonSmall sample | $520 | 21 |
| Georgetown | $500 | 69 |
| Gladstone | $500 | 54 |
| Glengarry | $490 | 93 |
| Heidelberg | $520 | 54 |
| Kew | $510 | 48 |
| KingswellSmall sample | $550 | 39 |
| Newfield | $540 | 69 |
| Richmond | $480 | 126 |
| RockdaleSmall sample | $380 | 39 |
| RosedaleSmall sample | $560 | 30 |
| Strathern | $500 | 54 |
| Turnbull Thomson Park | $490 | 63 |
| Waverley | $550 | 60 |
| Windsor | $510 | 105 |
Source: Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Tenancy Services rental bond data, houses, private bonds, four quarters July 2025 to June 2026. Rents are the bond-weighted average of the four quarterly medians for each area, rounded. Counts are rounded by Tenancy Services.
A note on the boundaries
Tenancy Services reports rents by Statistics NZ areas, which follow suburbs closely but not exactly. Each one here is labelled with the suburb it mostly covers, so streets near a boundary may belong to the neighbouring suburb.
Why the highest rent isn't the highest yield
Yield is annual rent divided by the price you pay, so a house that rents for $550 a week in a suburb where homes sell for $600,000 yields less than one that rents for $450 where homes sell for $400,000. Areas with higher rents tend to have higher prices, so the best yield is often not at the top of the rent list. What matters is the rent and the price of the particular house you're looking at.
Quick tip
Use the area rent as a reality check on a listing's claimed rent. If a listing says $600 a week and the area typically gets $500, ask what's behind it before you rely on that figure.
What price gives the yield you want?
This is the most useful way to use rent. Pick the weekly rent, choose the gross yield you're aiming for, and read off the most you could pay.
| Weekly rent | 4% gross | 5% gross | 6% gross | 7% gross | 8% gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $400 a week | $520,000 | $416,000 | $347,000 | $297,000 | $260,000 |
| $450 a week | $585,000 | $468,000 | $390,000 | $334,000 | $293,000 |
| $500 a week | $650,000 | $520,000 | $433,000 | $371,000 | $325,000 |
| $550 a week | $715,000 | $572,000 | $477,000 | $409,000 | $358,000 |
| $600 a week | $780,000 | $624,000 | $520,000 | $446,000 | $390,000 |
Price = weekly rent × 52 ÷ yield, rounded to the nearest $1,000. These are gross yields, before any costs.
A worked example
Say you're looking at a house in Windsor, where the typical rent is about $510 a week, and it's listed at $495,000. The annual rent is $510 × 52 = $26,520. Divided by $495,000, that's a gross yield of about 5.4%. The figures are made up to show the method. Then run the net figure with the yield calculator, which takes rates, insurance, maintenance and vacancy into account.
What this doesn't tell you
- It's new tenancies only. Rents on existing tenancies are often lower, because they haven't been reset.
- It's an area average. A renovated three-bedroom with a heat pump will rent for more than a tired one in the same street.
- Bedrooms and size skew the numbers. A suburb with mostly two-bedroom homes will show lower rents than one with mostly four-bedrooms, and the same goes for prices, so compare like with like. A suburb's average is only a guide to the house you're actually looking at.
- Yield isn't the whole picture. Capital growth, tenant demand, condition and Healthy Homes costs all matter too. See what makes a good rental property and what expenses to allow for.
- Small samples move around. A handful of tenancies can shift an area's figure noticeably from one quarter to the next.
If you're looking at a specific property and want a second opinion on the rent and the numbers, send it to me and I'll talk it through with you.
This is general information only, not financial or investment advice. Rents are indicative, based on bonds lodged with Tenancy Services, and may not reflect what any particular property would achieve. Speak with your accountant or financial adviser about your own numbers.
