The most expensive place in New Zealand to rent a home – Stuff

The Bay of Plenty may have one of the best beaches in the world and Te Puke may rival Hawaii as a holiday destination thanks to Christopher Luxon, but it is now the most expensive place in New Zealand to rent a home, with rents soaring up to $1500 a week.

Demand for houses is also skyrocketing. A two-bedroom house on Oropi Road, Tauranga, with a weekly rent of $400 received 169 watchlists in its first seven days on Trade Me, said Gavin Lloyd, Trade Me Property Sales Director.

READ MORE:* House attracts almost 100 enquiries in 48 hours as desperate renters compete* The best city suburbs to be a renter* Rents swell to record levels, landlords asking up to $2k per week

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A four-bedroom house in Te Puna, Bay of Plenty is currently listed on Trade Me at $1500 a week

A four-bedroom home in Te Puna listed at $1500 a week is currently the highest priced rental on the Trade Me site. There are also four-bedroom houses in tmoetai and Ppmoa for $1200 per week each.

Last month, the Bay of Plentys median weekly rent surpassed both Auckland and Wellington for the first time, making it the most expensive region for renters in the country according to Trade Mes latest rental price index.

In June, the median weekly rent in the Bay of Plenty region reached a new high of $610, marking an 11 per cent year-on-year increase. When compared with the month prior, this marks a 2 per cent increase.

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Median weekly rents January-June 2022 in Wellington, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, nationwide (* - new record)

Lloyd said a shortage of property to rent is driving up prices in the area.

The rent growth in the Bay of Plenty comes down to June supply dropping by 5 percent in the region when compared with the same month last year, leaving renters with less options and pushing prices up. By comparison, the Wellington region saw supply increase by 51 per cent year-on-year in June, while Auckland saw a 15 percent jump, he said.

The most expensive district in the Bay of Plenty region in June was Tauranga, where the median weekly rent increased 11 per cent year-on-year to $640. In the Rotorua district, the median weekly rent was $550 in June, jumping 12 per cent year-on-year.

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A four-bedroom house in tmoetai, Tauranga is listed on Trade Me at $1200 a week

People desperately seeking rentals question how anyone can afford these prices.

Marnie, who did not want her last name used for privacy reasons, believes the government needs to intervene. She is hunting for a one or two bedroom property for her and her partner and has been shocked at the rise in prices in less than a year

The government needs to do something. Landlords are getting too greedy, hiking the prices up. We are lucky that we have jobs but most of peoples wages are going on rent. Add this to the rise in gas and food and everything else - you can understand why we are seeing more and more people - even families - just living in their cars.

She said she could not understand why rents in the region are the highest in the country.

There is a hype about the area with the Mount, but the prices are high all over - I saw a property in Pongakawa way out of Tauranga for $1100 a week. The beaches are great, but there are other beautiful areas of New Zealand that are not so expensive to live.

Marnie said there was so much competition over properties.

I went to a viewing of a simple two bed property in Ppmoa where the kitchen was so small the fridge was in the lounge, and one bedroom you would struggle to even squeeze a bed in there. That was $550 and every man and his dog was there looking at it.

Evans Property Management owner Janine Evans said people were teaming up with others to afford higher rents.

We are seeing more couples sharing accommodation now to help offset the increased expense. The dynamic is changing in the higher end properties as rents continue to grow.

An influx in people moving to the region both from overseas and other parts of the country was contributing to a rise in prices, she said.

We ask our tenants why they have chosen to move to the Bay of Plenty. The answer is either to come back to be with family, to experience our lovely climate and beaches, the people, and the central location the BOP has to offer. This influx causes a surge in rental demand which in turn, is pushing up prices.

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Janine Evans of Evans Property Management

Prices were also on the rise due to lack of supply she said.

Rents are now higher than ever in the BOP region. As demand continues to grow, this inevitability causes a decreased stock supply available. Add to that our current shortage of land supply, what we are seeing is this snowball effect of rent increases.

Until we have either more land and/or the resource consents available to build up (apartments/townhouses etc) in high density areas, the influx of people will continue to push prices up.

Evans said some landlords have been left with no option to increase rents due to changes in tax depreciation laws and high interest rates, which could even cause landlords to sell property meaning there was even less supply.

Evans urged people seeking rentals not to give up hope.

Keep putting your best food forward. Even though you may have missed out this time, we confirm with them there in nothing wrong with your application, it purely is a numbers game.

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The most expensive place in New Zealand to rent a home - Stuff