Data shows mixed bag for tenants

Rent prices are edging up, new Trade Me data shows, but the rises are not evenly distributed across the country.

Nationwide, the site reported rental prices up 2.3 per cent compared to a year ago. Auckland’s prices are up 1.9 per cent and Wellington’s 9.8 per cent.

Excluding Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, prices are up 7 per cent.

Head of Trade Me Property Nigel Jeffries said the median weekly rent in Christchurch fell $5 in May to $390.

‘‘Rents in Christchurch are down 2.5 per cent on this time last year, adding up to a $500 saving per annum for tenants,’’ he said.

‘‘The median weekly rent is now the same as it was in March 2013, so tenants in the city will be a lot happier than they were during the height of the rebuild.

‘‘For two years, rents rocketed up hitting the city’s record of $495 per week in March 2015. Since then rents have declined relentlessly.

‘‘They’ve fallen year-on-year for the last two years. This means that in Christchurch rents have risen just over 8 per cent in the last five years, while nationwide the rise was 25 per cent.’’

Jeffries said Christchurch was a perfect example of supply and demand in the rental market.

‘‘Before the earthquake, Christchurch typically had 1450 rental property listings listed each month. After the earthquake, this fell to around 1000, and that depletion drove rents up hard.

‘‘Since 2013, the number of rental properties has increased steadily and we’re back to the pre-earthquake number of listings, with rents starting to level out. The $390 per week mark we’ve hit appears to be Christchurch’s happy place and we think rents will stay within cooee of this for the foreseeable future.’’

One Christchurch tenant, who did not want to be identified, said she had noticed prices dropping and mentioned it to the landlord of her Sumner property.

‘‘He reduced our rent by $50 a week and said he’s noticed the slump in the market too.’’

Andrew Bruce, president of the Auckland Property Investors Association, said he was surprised at the number of people who decided to buy rental property without working out what their return would be, once their costs were covered.

Much of the property investment activity six months ago had been driven by people who were worried about missing out, rather than because it was a sound buy, he said.

Many regions are still going strong. Northland’s rents are up almost 19 per cent. Bay of Plenty recorded a 12.5 per cent increase.

‘‘The median weekly rent in Northland has dropped slightly since April, down $5 to $380,’’ Jeffries said.

‘‘That said, the region is still up 18.8 per cent on this time last year.

‘‘The Bay of Plenty maintained its record high of $450 a week in May, still second equal with Wellington in the most expensive region stakes.’’

In the South Island, Nelson/Tasman reached a record high in May as it hit $399 a week, a 7.1 per cent increase over the past year.