Capital’s rents on par with Auckland
Capital rents have caught up with Auckland, with the median rent reaching $550 per week in both cities last month.
Trade Me figures suggested the parity was reached after rents hit record-breaking highs nationwide, with an increase of 4.4 per cent to median rents, putting the average at $470 per week.
Adding to the headaches of capital renters was an 11 per cent fall in the number of rental listings available – a drop that more than doubled the national decline of 5 per cent.
The knock-on effect was heightened competition. Trade Me property head Nigel Jeffries said one three-bedroom property in central Wellington received 127 inquiries in just 48 hours.
‘‘With rental listings in Wellington at a low ebb, many renters in the capital are beginning to look further afield and some traditionally quieter areas have taken off,’’ Jeffries said.
‘‘Lower Hutt was the most popular area for Wellington tenants in January, with rental listings receiving an average of 16 inquiries in their first two days ‘onsite’. Upper Hutt was a close second with an average of 15 inquiries.’’
Lower Hutt rents were up 13 per cent last month to $450 a week.
Student hotspots like Aro Valley and Te Aro received 16 and 12 inquiries on average, respectively, in the first two days, and there are early signs that students are increasingly ditching their usual haunts to move further out of the city.
Rental listings in Petone and Naenae had an average of 22 inquiries.
A spokeswoman for WelTec and Whitireia said the university was instigating a free bus between its Porirua, Petone and Wellington City campuses. ‘‘We’ve heard anecdotally a number of students renting in Petone who are going to be studying in town.’’
The situation wasn’t much better in the wider Wellington region, with rents reaching a record $500 last month – up 4.2 per cent year on year.
Life-long Wellington resident Tash Lajpold had been living in a three-bedroom house in Stokes Valley for $465 a week, but after the owner sold up, she moved to Petone. ‘‘There was nothing in the Hutt Valley ... for anything like that amount,’’ she said.
Her new apartment is smaller, with one of the bedrooms only fitting a single bed, and another barely fitting a queen, and costs $520 per week. ‘‘Over the last two to three years, the price increases have been quite substantial, particularly in the last year.
‘‘I’m 41 now. The reality is the cost of renting and trying to save for our own home, with children, is just not going to be something we will be able to do – considering the prices are still going up.’’
For Auckland, the standout rental area was the North Shore, which reached an all-time high of $585 per week. Prices in the central city remained at $550 a week.
Jeffries said it was not all bad news for Auckland, however. The number of rental listings there had risen 5 per cent on last January.
Only Christchurch bucked this trend, with a more-or-less stagnant market keeping weekly rents at $400 last month.
Large houses of five bedrooms or more saw particularly marked increases, with median rents for these properties up 6.8 per cent to $790 per week.
In the regions, Nelson and Southland’s median weekly rents rose 10.8 per cent to $410 and 8 per cent to $270, respectively. ‘‘Northland and Bay of Plenty also experienced strong growth,’’ Jeffries said.