Along with that, changes to tenancy laws were making landlords nervous and causing them to sell and invest in other areas, meaning there were fewer rental properties available.
She said it was undeniable that there was a housing shortage in Hawke's Bay.
She had seen rent on a Taradale home go up 15 per cent, and some one bedroom units had rent increases of up to 21 per cent.
She said it was hard, as a property manager, not being able to provide good tenants with housing.
"Property managers and landlords aren't villains. We are in the business of putting people into houses."
She was trying to help her residents who were not currently on fixed leases, but moving them to a fixed lease, to give people a level of stability.
In Hastings the medium rent per week was $420, up 16.7 per cent from the previous year, with Napier slightly cheaper at $415, up 9.2 per cent from the previous year.
Hawke's Bay's most popular house in December on Trade Me was in Waipureku St, Clive, which received 45 inquiries its first two days online.
Trade Me's head of rentals Aaron Clancy said rents show no signs of slowing down.
"We can expect to see record-breaking rents in Hawke's Bay in 2019."
As a whole, New Zealand saw average rents go up by an average 4.3 per cent, with Wellington overtaking Auckland as the most expensive place to rent in.
One house in the Wellington suburb of Newtown had 137 enquiries in its first two days online.
The only region to see a decrease in rents was Nelson/Tasman. Rents in that area dropped an average 2.4 per cent.
