The cost of renting a home in Lower Hutt has shot up by more than 17 per cent in the year to March, according to new statistics from the NZ Property Investors’ Federation.
“There have been so many cost and regulatory increases over the last few years that it isn’t a surprise that rental prices are increasing as they are,” says the organisation’s executive officer Andrew King. “Unfortunately, the situation looks likely to continue.”
To smooth out monthly variations, the federation averaged three months of rental prices to the year ended March and compared this to the same period last year.
Overall, national rent prices are up an average 6.1 per cent to $433 a week. This is a higher price rise than during the last two years when prices rose 3.4 per cent in the year to March 2017 and 3 per cent in the year to March 2016. The latest inflation figure is 1.6 per cent.
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Hutt Valley saw the largest increase at 17.1 per cent to $413 a week, although the low numbers of rental properties there may have skewed the figures, says King. Porirua was next with an 11.6 per cent increase to $407 a week, although he says Porirua statistics can also be quite volatile.
Wellington central rents increased by 6.8 per cent. Nelson saw the third highest rental price rises at 9.2 per cent to $382. Auckland rental increases ranged from 4.2 per cent in Waitakere ($493) to 5.2 per cent ($578) on the North Shore.
Twelve of the country’s 17 main areas had rental price increases below the 6.1 per cent national average, indicating that rent increases in the regions are growing strongly.
In Christchurch, rental price falls over the last few years appear to have bottomed out. While the 3.8 per cent increase in Christchurch rents to $386 is lower than the national average, it is the first time prices have shown an increase there since 2014.
