Only one region did not see a year-on-year increase
The rental market remains red-hot in New Zealand, with the latest Trade Me Property (Trade Me) data revealing that rents across the country saw their most significant year-on-year increase of all time in July 2021, a 10% jump from the same month last year.
Trade Me sales director Gavin Lloyd said the national median weekly rent hit a new record of $550 last month, marking its second record-breaking month in a row.
“After remaining stagnant for three months from March to May, we saw rents take off again in June with the median weekly rent reaching $545 and then climbing again in July,” Lloyd said.
“This marks the largest price growth we have seen in the rental market since we started recording rents in 2015.”
Records were broken in Taranaki ($500) and Auckland ($500) last month, while the only region that did not see a year-on-year increase was Otago, where the median weekly rent dropped by 2% year on year.
In addition, for the first time ever, Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt overtook Wellington City to become the most expensive districts in the Wellington region last month – with the median weekly rent in Upper Hutt hitting an all-time high of $625, climbing 30% on last July to overtake Wellington City by $30 a week. In Lower Hutt, the median weekly rent reached a new high of $600 last month, increasing by 9% year on year.
Read more: Trade Me reveals what’s new in the New Zealand rental market
When it comes to demand, Trade Me’s report showed that the demand for rentals increased slightly by 1% nationwide last month compared to the same month last year.
“Canterbury (26%) and Nelson/Tasman (18%) were the regions that saw the largest uplift in demand for rentals in July when compared with the same month last year,” Lloyd said.
However, Lloyd said demand was still outweighing supply last month, with the number of rentals down by 8% nationwide compared with July 2020.
“Southland (8%) and Waikato (3%) were the only regions that saw an increase in rental market supply when compared with the same month last year. As long as supply is unable to catch up with demand, we wouldn’t expect to see this rate of growth ease off any time soon,” he added.
When it comes to types of properties, Trade Me found that the median rent for all house sizes saw an annual increase in every region last month.
“Small (one to two bedrooms) properties saw the largest rent increase in July, with their national median weekly rent up 9% year on year,” Lloyd said.
Compared with July last year, the national median weekly rent for units increased by 6% to $440, the largest increase seen for rents of all urban properties, closely followed by townhouses, which saw a 5.5% year-on-year increase.
