Trade Me says rents jumped 9pc in 2014

Photo / Nick Reed

National rents have risen 9 per cent in the last 12 months, the biggest increase recorded in five years and "grim news for tenants".

Nigel Jeffries, head of Trade Me Property, has just released the data for the year to January showing the median weekly rent is $420.

"The 9 per cent year-on-year increase in January is the largest single-month rise we've recorded over the past five years. Median weekly rents clicked up $20 per week between December and January to a record high of $420 per week. That's grim news for tenants," Jeffries said.

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Areas which recorded some of the big rises in the year to January were Auckland up 6.7 per cent to $480/week, Wellington up 6 per cent to $440/week and Canterbury up 8.4 per cent to $450/week.

Eight of 15 regions showed new record median rents and another four regions reported increases compared to a year ago.

The largest increase was in the Marlborough region where median weekly rents rose 13.3 per cent to $320/week.

Only two regions recorded falls: Gisborne down 6.7 per cent to $260/week and the West Coast down 1.9 per cent to $255/week. Nelson/Tasman was unchanged.

Auckland's apartment market represents more than 60 per cent of New Zealand's apartment stock and the weekly Auckland apartment rents rose by $10 to a new high of $430/week, up 7.5 per cent on a year ago.

Jeffries said the rental market is responding to pressure from landlords trying to recover more money after big house price rises.

"It was more a question of when - not if - landlords were going to start recovering some level of yield. It looks like that signal has flowed into the market this month and started to sting tenants in the pocket," he said.

Nationally, rents on three and four-bedroom properties were up 9.5 per cent to $460/week.