But that comes with a qualifier: smaller dwellings do – potentially - carry more risk, too.

CoreLogic senior property economist Kelvin Davidson says their research suggests that experienced and long-term investors haven’t altered their plans too much yet and some intend to look at buying opportunities.

“But the likely reduction in property value growth (capital gains) means a lot of the focus in assessing potential investment purchases will need to be on the rental yields.”

On that point, CoreLogic’s data shows that apartments generally deliver higher yields than houses and require less capital up front as well.

“The Covid-19 hit to the foreign student market may put question marks over the demand to occupy apartments in central city areas,” he says.

“But a gross yield of 5% (assuming occupied) for an apartment in Wellington’s Wadestown/Thorndon, for example, nevertheless looks appealing.”

As an alternative, their data also shows that yields on three-bedroom houses tend to be higher than four bedroom houses (although Auckland is an exception).

Davidson says that as with apartments, smaller houses will tend to carry a lower price tag, too, which means a lower deposit is required.

“Overall, in the coming months uncertainty is likely to remain high and everybody will be cautious of buying into a ‘falling market’.

“But there are still bound to be good opportunities for investors to get a ‘bargain’, and our data suggests that smaller properties (for example, apartments or three-bedroom houses) could be a decent choice because of better yields.”

Just remember there are other factors to consider, he adds.

“The knock to the foreign student market, for example, could be a threat to the demand to rent an apartment, and could raise the risk of a vacancy.”