Rental prices at ‘all-time high’
Single mother forced to move facing $200 rent increase
Tauranga’s median weekly rent has been more expensive than Auckland and Wellington’s for three months as prices in the city hit an “all-time high”, according to Trade Me.
A single mum says renting in the city is “bloody hard” as she faces either paying $200 a week more in rent or getting a flatmate due to having to leave her Mount Maunganui home so her landlord can move in.
And a local rental expert said despite rising prices, there was still “lots of demand” and rentals were being snapped up within a week of being listed.
The latest Trade Me figures for October show the median weekly rental price in Tauranga rose $55 in a year to hit $650 — a record and higher than both Wellington ($620) and Auckland ($610) for that month.
Tauranga’s median also outstripped the larger centres in September and August. In October last year, it was $595.
Nationally, the median weekly rent climbed back up to $580 — matching the all-time high first recorded in April.
Kiri — who did not want her surname published for privacy reasons — and her son are living in Mount Maunganui, where she pays $550 in rent a week. She will be moving to a short-term, threebedroom place in Pa¯pa¯moa on December
7, which is $750 a week.
The 46-year-old said she will need to find someone to move in to help pay for the rent because “I won’t make that in a week”.
“It’s bloody hard and the prices are climbing — it’s ridiculous.”
Kiri said she worked full-time “but basically I don’t see my wages”, with 80 per cent going towards rent. She gets an accommodation supplement from Work and Income and the Inland Revenue Department’s Working for Families worth about $290 per week. She also gets $80 a month in child support.
Kiri said she had “no choice” but to move into the $750-a-week rental due to a lack of other suitable properties. Her main priority was having somewhere “safe and secure” for her and her son, aged 12, to live. “I pretty much got close to having to go into emergency housing, or I would have just sent my son to his sister’s and probably slept in the
car because I don’t want to go into emergency housing.
“I can’t think of anything worse.” Tauranga Rentals principal officer Dan Lusby said there was still “lots of demand” for rental properties as rent prices rose.
“Every property we put up, if they’re still [available] in a week’s time, it’s very surprising to be quite honest.”
Lusby said it tried to keep rent prices at market price “as much as we can”.
“But it just seems like every time a new one comes on the market, it’s higher again than the last ones.
“The interest rates are rising, investors have stopped or they can’t borrow because the banks are being too tough or they can’t afford to borrow, so we haven’t had any new house to come on the market for us to rent.”
Lusby said he hoped “the powers that be” could help with getting more houses built.
“Whether it’s developers or the council can release more land, it’s all about getting more supply so we can put a stop to those increases.
“Just the way things are and the way things have been, we can’t see anything changing in the future either, so all it means is rent is going to carry on going up.”
Tauranga Property Investors Association president Juli Anne Tolley said it was seeing more tenants looking for new accommodation be