The rental housing market continues to move in tenants' favour with the supply of homes for rent increasing while asking rents decline.
According to Trade Me Property, the number of properties available for rent on the website was up 6.3% in September from September last year, while the median advertised rent was down 1.6% over the same period.
Demand from prospective tenants was also in decline, with rental property searches on Trade Me Property down 1.0%.
Trade Me Property spokesperson Casey Wilde said the increase in the number of rental properties becoming available was putting downward pressure on rents.
The biggest annual decline in rents was in the Wellington region, where September's median advertised rent on Trade Me Property was down 7.0%, followed by Northland -6.5%, Marlborough -3.4% and Hawke's Bay -3.1%
Canterbury was the only region where advertised rents were up year-on-year, with a 1.8% increase.
September data was not available for Gisborne or the West Coast . See the chart below for regional rents and their annual change.
"This increased supply, combined with the marginal overall drop in national searches, suggests the balance of power favours tenants across the motu," Trade Me Property's September rent report said.
5 Comments
This has got to be helping inflation ... right?
Yet, yesterday's CPI article stated that rising rents were one of the top 3 contributors to the CPI. Go figure.
I saw that as well, but the cpi is probably from a year ago given stats nz time lag
Yes that was interesting, but they only had rent up 2.6% which is a fall in real terms with CPI being 3%...if rent was excluded, presumably inflation would be higher.
Doesn't explain the discrepancy though.
Good news because it's not all about interest rates falling to get the economy moving. Let's not forget that renters have spending power when they're not being throttled by rising rents.
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