Report shows changes in index for stock and flow measures of rental prices
If sky-high house prices aren’t enough for Kiwis to deal with, rental prices continue to soar, with the latest Statistics New Zealand (Stats NZ) data showing a slight increase in December 2021.
The latest Rental Price Index measured the changes in prices that households paid for rentals in December 2021. It showed changes in the index for stock measure and flow measure of rental property prices across New Zealand.
The flow measure of rents covers rental price changes only for homes that have a new tenancy that started in the reference month, making it more volatile than the stock measure, which shows rental price changes across the whole rental population, including renters currently in tenancies.
The December 2021 data showed that the index for the stock measure of rental property prices in New Zealand rose by 0.4% from November. By contrast, the index for the flow measure of rental property prices dropped by 0.1% during the same period.
Annually, the index for the stock measure of rental property prices increased 3.7% last month compared to the figure in December 2020, while the index for the flow measure of rental property prices increased by 5.8%.
Read more: Trade Me: Rents rose by 8% in a year
Rental prices have been increasing every month, with Trade Me Property’s (Trade Me) Rental Price Index covering November 2021 showing that national median weekly rent had hit $560, matching the all-time high first recorded in October, and marking an 8% increase when compared with the same month last year.
The all-time high median weekly rents were found in Bay of Plenty ($520), Gisborne ($570), Manawatū/Whanganui ($480), and Marlborough ($485). Meanwhile, an over 10% year-on-year increase in median weekly rents was in Canterbury (10%), Hawke’s Bay (13%), and Northland (10%).
