Residential rents appear to have risen twice as much in Christchurch as they did in Wellington City in the year to May, although Wellington rents are still slightly higher overall.
Information compiled from tenancy bonds received by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment show the median rent in Christchurch was $390 a week in May, compared with $369 in May last year, an increase of 5.7%.
In the capital the median rent was $400 a week in May compared with $390 in May last year, a rise of 2.6%.
Of the most popular property types (those with at least 100 new lettings a month), the biggest rises were for three bedroom houses in Christchurch, for which the median rent increased by 9.8% to $450.
There was also a strong rise in the median rent for two bedroom flats in Christchurch, which increased by 7.7% to $339.
Altogether bonds were received for 1,215 new tenancies in Christchurch during May, a 3% increase on May last year.
In Wellington City it was one bedroom properties that showed the biggest increases, with the median rent for one bedroom apartments jumping from $320 a week in May last year to $360 in May this year, a rise of 9.4%, followed by one bedroom flats which increased 7.7% to $280.
The median rent for three bedroom houses in Wellington rose by 6.5% to $490.
The bonds centre received 1,010 bonds for Wellington tenancies in May, down 15% on May last year.
| Wellington City and Christchurch Median Rents | |||
| Wellington City | May-13 | May-14 | % change |
| 1 brm apartment | 320 | 350 | 9.4 |
| 2 brm apartment | 440 | 430 | -2.3 |
| 1 brm flat | 260 | 280 | 7.7 |
| 2 brm flat | 340 | 350 | 2.9 |
| 3 brm house | 460 | 490 | 6.5 |
| Total all property types | 390 | 400 | 2.6 |
| Total bonds received | 1,188 | 1,010 | -15.0 |
| Christchurch | |||
| 2 brm flat | 300 | 339 | 7.7 |
| 2 brm house | 350 | 362 | 4.8 |
| 3 brm house | 410 | 450 | 9.8 |
| 4 brm house | 520 | 550 | 5.8 |
| Total all property types | 369 | 390 | 5.7 |
| Total bonds received | 1,180 | 1,215 | 3.0 |
| Source: MBIE | |||
8 Comments
Not only do we have rents rising in Auckland, ( see earlier article on this site) but rises starting to spread through other parts of the country.
You can literally smell the rent -a -crowd protesters gathering to protest, oblivious to rising interest rates, insurances, council rates and maintenance costs.
As long as some one else pays that's all right.
a) Actually I never said houses prices couldnt rise short term. What I said was longer term with BBs retiring, peak oil, peak debt, financial meltdowns etc is I expect a huge price drops, like 60% maybe more.
b) rent is different to specualting on a capital gain. For a capital gain you can take on debt, for rent increases you cannot, or not for long anyway.
c) You miss the point of with no wage increases how can most ppl afford to pay more rent? please explain.
d) Big daddy etc have been promising huge rent increases for some time, apart from a few areas/instances even small across the board increases seem to be vapourware.
regards
How the Rentier Class Cannibalizes the Economy, Dr Michael Hudson
"The financial industry has fought to support special tax breaks for real estate, recognizing that the money that is freed from the tax collector will be available to pay interest. Political contributions and lobbying efforts by real estate owners are followed by those of the financial sector, overshadowing those of manufacturing".
http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/how_the_rentier_class_canniba…
"Rentier capitalism is a term currently used to describe economic practices of parasitic monopolization of access to any (physical, financial, intellectual, etc.) kind of property, and gaining significant amounts of profit without contribution to society"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rentier_capitalism
Capitalism, Democracy and Land by Catherine Cashmore.
"Whilst rich land-‘lords’ and mining magnets grow wealthy, collecting their unearned windfall in economic rent – they ironically tell the young tenant saddled with student debt “so you think the world owes you a living?” while government stretches out its hand to the low waged worker commanding they “pull their weight.”
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