Rents continue steady climb up

Median weekly rents increased steadily over the 12 months to April 2015 – with a rise of 6.3% to a record-equalling $420 per week.

Trade Me Property head Nigel Jeffries said that, around New Zealand, tenants are digging into their bank accounts to pay about $1,300 more per annum to rent a property.

“Across the country, the rental market has consistently delivered median rental growth north of 7% year-on-year in 2015, accelerating on growth of about 5% over the same period last year.”

The Trade Me Property data also showed that, over the past five years, the median weekly rent across New Zealand has risen by 23.5% from $340 per week in April 2010 to $420 per week last month.

Jeffries said the majority of this $120 per week increase had occurred since the middle of 2013.

Meanwhile, four of the regions reported double-digit rental growth in the year to April 2015. They were Gisborne (+20%), Marlborough (+12.3%), Bay of Plenty (+10.9%) and Southland (+10.0%).

Jefferies said, based on reports from local agents, there are clear signs that the Bay of Plenty is seeing strong demand from Auckland-based investors.

At the other end of the spectrum, the trend in Manawatu and the West Coast is one of declining rents.

Jefferies added that it was too early to assess the impact of the raft of property and tax changes announced by the government in recent weeks.