Quake helps property managers and vacancy levels

"Vacancies are as low as they have ever been," Harcourts chief executive Hayden Duncan says.

He is well placed to comment on levels as Harcourts claims around 60% market share of the city's property management market.

He also says there has been an increase in the number of people who are now putting their rental properties under a manager.

Landlords, both locally and from out of town, "are throwing their hands in the air" and deciding to hand the property over to a manager to deal with.