Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Median rents in Northland hit $400 for the first time

Imran Ali
By Imran Ali
Multimedia Journalist·Northern Advocate·
22 May, 2018 06:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Mike Tasker says rising rents in Northland reflect what tenants are prepared to pay.
Photo / Michael Cunningham
Mike Tasker says rising rents in Northland reflect what tenants are prepared to pay. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Mike Tasker says rising rents in Northland reflect what tenants are prepared to pay. Photo / Michael Cunningham

A Northland property investor says rising rents are purely market driven rather than landlords pushing prices up due to a shortage of rental properties.

Mike Tasker's comments followed news the median weekly rent in Northland hit $400 for the first time in April— an increase of 3.9 per cent or $15 compared with the same month last year.

In Whangārei, the median rent hit $410 last month compared with $380 in April 2017— an 8 per cent rise.

Read more: Northland property owners make $369m gross profit in 2017 from an average 40 sales per week
Northland median rent hits new high of $400

One house for rent on Great North Rd in Kamo received 46 inquiries in just a couple of days last month, while another on Silverstream Rd in Horahora had 43 inquiries.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Figures released by Trade Me show 35 people were interested in another house on Leith St in Morningside in April.

New Zealand's national median rent reached a record-breaking $475 a week after a 5.6 per cent jump on April last year.

Tasker, president of the Northland Property Investors' Association, said rents reflected what tenants were prepared to pay.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

FOR MORE PROPERTY NEWS AND LISTINGS GO TO ONEROOF

"I believed it's 100 per cent market driven. I remember a few years ago, I had to drop $40 [a week] off so that people could move in," he said.

Tasker owns nine rental properties throughout Whangārei and he said that since more people were moving to New Zealand than we could build houses for, properties became less affordable to buy as well as to rent.

Tasker said it was also difficult for landlords to buy more rental properties.

Discover more

Kaipara news: Rates rise concerns

25 May 02:30 AM

"If the Government hadn't put a 40 per cent deposit rule for landlords to buy houses and rent them out, there'd be a hell of a lot of rental properties on the market."

He said people buying former rental properties to live in them also contributed to a shortage of rental houses.

Head of Trade Me property Nigel Jeffries said the greater demand for rentals than supply in Northland was unusual at this time of the year.

"Typically, in the autumn months we see rent growth slow right down but this year Northland bucked the seasonal trend and we've in fact seen rent prices increase in April."

Anecdotally, he said, across New Zealand more owner-occupiers were buying ex-rental properties to live in and a similar trend was seen in Northland.

"Looking ahead to winter, it seems we're going to continue to see excess demand in Northland which will most likely lead to small but continuing rent increases," Jeffries said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The Far North saw a fall in the median rent, from $380 to $360, while Kaipara remained static at $400 over one year.

Paul Beazley, of LJ Hooker in Whangārei, said demand for rental properties was pretty strong - not just in suburbs closer to the city such as Kensington, Regent, Morningside and the Avenues but also areas like Onerahi and Tikipunga.

"In the past two to three years, a lot of rental properties have been sold to owner/occupiers while there hasn't been any new builds specifically for investment in Whangārei in the last 10 years," he said.

Like Tasker, he thinks the demand for rental properties in Northland will stay stronger for some time.

Beazley said some landlords decided to sell their rental properties ahead of changes to the Residential Tenancies Act that would have increased their compliance costs.

Landlords have until July 1 next year to insulate their rentals under the act. The Government estimated 180,000 properties would need new insulation to comply with the deadline to make rental homes warm, dry and safe. Landlords not complying face a fine of up to $4000.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save
    Share this article

Latest from Property

Premium
OpinionAnne Gibson

Property Insider: $120m Wiri sale; Ryman's sinking village buildings; opposition to Bay of Islands marina

Premium
Business

Northcote's Vietnamese-built Elevation apartments near completion

Premium
Business

First look at controversial Bay of Islands marina plans


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Recommended for you

'Legends armed with shovels': Motorists work together to clear slip on Brynderwyns
Northern Advocate

'Legends armed with shovels': Motorists work together to clear slip on Brynderwyns

Air NZ ally Singapore Airlines takes a hit from Air India's financial disaster
Airlines

Air NZ ally Singapore Airlines takes a hit from Air India's financial disaster

Severe thunderstorm watch issued for Auckland, concerns intense rainfall will cause flash flooding
New Zealand

Severe thunderstorm watch issued for Auckland, concerns intense rainfall will cause flash flooding

Five dead after shooting in central Manhattan, including cop, gunman - reports
World

Five dead after shooting in central Manhattan, including cop, gunman - reports

'Phenomenally talented': 12-year-old just misses out on medal at world champs
Sport

'Phenomenally talented': 12-year-old just misses out on medal at world champs

Former My Kitchen Rules star faces assault allegations
World

Former My Kitchen Rules star faces assault allegations



Latest from Property

Premium
Premium
Property Insider: $120m Wiri sale; Ryman's sinking village buildings; opposition to Bay of Islands marina
Anne Gibson
OpinionAnne Gibson

Property Insider: $120m Wiri sale; Ryman's sinking village buildings; opposition to Bay of Islands marina

OPINION: What will a big Australian investor do with its new $120m Wiri property?

09 Jun 05:00 PM
Premium
Premium
Northcote's Vietnamese-built Elevation apartments near completion
Business

Northcote's Vietnamese-built Elevation apartments near completion

18 May 09:00 PM
Premium
Premium
First look at controversial Bay of Islands marina plans
Business

First look at controversial Bay of Islands marina plans

13 May 09:30 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search