Welcome Bay mother-of-four Tracy McCormack said despite a $30 jump in her weekly rent in the past 12 months she counted herself as fortunate, because rents overall had gone up so much in the past few years.
Ms McCormack said she rented a fully-fenced, four-bedroom home which also has two bathrooms and a garage for $420 a week. The increase was the first since she moved in almost five years ago.
"Having my rent jump from $390 a week to $420 in one go was quite a shock, but when I checked Trade Me listings landlords are asking the same or more for three-bedroom homes in this area."
Ms McCormack said despite the rent increase she intended to stay put because she lived in a good area and her primary school-aged children were all settled in a local school.
"It's also expensive to move if I had wanted to, and to rent something similar I would probably have to be prepared to pay between $470 to $500 a week. I can't afford that," she said
Harcourts managing director Nigel Martin said there was a lack of properties available for rent in the area.
"Most of the properties we're getting available for rent are getting rented before they even hit Trade Me or hit any of the real estate websites."
The market had become even tighter heading into Christmas, he said. People were reluctant to move out of their properties as they did not want to lose having somewhere to live.
The biggest driver in the increase in demand was people moving to the area for work, he said.
Mr Martin thought the situation would stay the same next year as things were looking bright for the local economy.
Greg Purcell, owner of Ray White Realty Focus in Mount Maunganui and Papamoa, said many who had taken their homes off the market to rent them after the 2008 stock market crash were now deciding to sell.
In many cases the buyers, including new people to the area, would have moved into those houses rather than renting them to tenants.
"That puts pressure on people trying to find rental properties. I've never seen it so tight as this year, in terms of availability."
Mr Purcell expected the market to ease a bit next year and predicted more properties would become available.
Ross Stanway, chief executive of Eves and Bayleys Real Estate, agreed the number of people looking for rentals was one factor in the price increase. He said some landlords had also improved properties after tenants had moved on allowing them to increase their prices.
A number of investors from out of the region had also bought properties recently for more than they would have paid a year ago and set their rents accordingly.
Mr Stanway expected rents to increase in the coming year, driven by supply and demand.
"The reality is that there are more and more people moving into this region, it's a very popular region."
