NZ’s flats ranked by warmth, cheapest rent, and the ones to avoid

A New Zealand website is taking the guessing out of where to flat by giving renters a place to share honest reviews of their places before you go off and sign a tenancy agreement.

Otago alumni Ryan Cole decided earlier this year that it’s time to be transparent about the good, the bad and everything in-between about flatting in Aotearoa.

So, the software engineering grad launched Flatchat. The site uses feedback tied to specific addresses, so you can search by street, suburb, or landlord, and see ratings across things like value for money, warmth, property condition and landlord behaviour.

While it started as a tool for flatting Dunedin students, the website has now expanded nationwide - covering Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, and Palmerston North.

So here are the rankings of best suburbs to flat per city as they stand on the website.

Note: rankings are based on properties that have been reviewed, so results can shift depending on how many reviews a city/suburb has.

Auckland

With more than 21,000 listed properties, Auckland has seen plenty of feedback. Mount Eden is the most reviewed suburb with 528 ratings, averaging 2.6 stars.

Grey Lynn stands out for warmer flats, Ponsonby takes the title for priciest rent, averaging $1024 a week, and Pakuranga comes in as best value at around $649.

Auckland flatting rankings:

1. Grey Lynn

2. Ponsonby

3. Epsom

4. Mount Eden

5. Pakuranga

Wellington

Wellington has around 4,800 listed properties with 72 suburb reviews so far.

Berhampore ranks as the warmest, Wellington Central places third overall but takes out top for best value averaging $585 a week, while Kelburn comes in as the most expensive at roughly $775.

Wellington flatting rankings:

1. Berhampore

2. Vogeltown

3. Wellington Central

4. Pipitea

5. Mt Victoria

Christchurch

Christchurch has just over 4,500 listed properties, with Riccarton being the most reviewed suburb of the bunch.

Fendalton takes the top spot overall for warm, comfortable flats, while Edgeware gets the best value title with average weekly rent sitting around $501.

Christchurch flatting rankings:

1. Fendalton

2. Ilam

3. Riccarton

4. Edgeware

Dunedin

With over 2,000 properties, Dunedin's Forbury currently leads the rankings thanks to warmer homes and lower average rent at around $478 per week. Normanby is the most expensive at about $750, and Ocean Grove comes in cheapest at roughly $375 but doesn't make it close to making it in the top suburbs ranking 16th out of the 17 suburbs listed.

Dunedin flatting rankings:

1. Forbury

2. Te Awa

3. Wakari

4. Kensington

5. Tainui

Hamilton

Hamilton has only two suburbs reviewed so far - so flatters in the Tron, this is your sign to speak up.

Hamilton East is currently rated the warmest, while Hillcrest is the most expensive at around $504 a week.

Hamilton flatting rankings:

1. Hamilton East

2. Hillcrest

Palmerston North

Around 738 rental properties are listed in Palmerston North, but there aren’t enough reviews yet to form proper rankings.

Alongside reviews, Flatchat also includes a forum where renters can chat about flatting life in each city, landlords can share advice, and there’s even an anonymous confessions thread for the horror stories you don't want your name attached to.

Earlier this year, one Dunedin tenant’s review highlighted one of the worst flatting experiences.

“I could hear my flatmate having sex, which was not good," they wrote.

Another tried to find the positives in what they described as a “freezer” of a house, noting noise issues but also adding the “landlord has nice boots” and the place had “ample drinking space.”

So if those are anything to go by, something tells me this might fill up pretty quickly with some jaw-dropping confessions.