The records just keep getting broken. According to TradeMe’s latest Rental Price Index, Porirua holds the crown as the most expensive place to rent in the country, after median weekly rents hit an all-time high of $700 per week in December.
Across the Wellington Region, Lower Hutt ($615), Masterton ($540), and Upper Hutt ($630) also saw all-time high weekly rents, while Wellington City sat at $640 per week, $5 shy of its all-time high of $645 a few months earlier.
The most popular rental in the country last month was a three-bedroom house on Wilson Street, Newtown for $700 per week. The property received 125 enquiries in just the first two days online.
Hawke’s Bay has also seen a significant weekly increase, up 15 per cent from December 2021.
Overall demand for rentals in the Wellington region was down 4 per cent when compared with December 2020, while supply was down in 5 per cent. Nationally, demand for rentals dropped by 2 per cent year-on-year in December.
While a drop in demand is promising as we enter 2022, TradeMe Property Sales Director, Gavin Lloyd didn’t think this drop would be substantial enough to slow the market, especially while supply mirrors the dip.
It seems larger homes with five-plus bedrooms are proving most desirable for renters, with an all-time high national median weekly rent of $950, whilst in Wellington large properties matched the national increase of 12 per cent to $1,200.
Rent for townhouses, apartments, and units reached an all-time high in Wellington last month, hitting $560 in December, an increase of 8 per cent year-on-year.
