Cost of living: Northland median rental price shoots up to $580

Weekly rent continues to increase in Northland. Photo / Tania Whyte

Tenants already struggling with high rents in Northland are paying an extra $1560 a year as the median rent shoots up to sit at $580.

Trade Me’s Rental Price Index found the median weekly rent in Northland climbed $30 between May last year and May this year- a 5.5 per cent increase.

The median weekly rent in New Zealand has hit $610.

“It appears that after the large pay increases we saw throughout 2022, landlords are still feeling confident to ask more. But we expect rents to taper off later in the years as landlords respond to stalling wages and tenants’ lack of disposable income. Until then, renters’ wallets will feel the pain,” Trade Me director of property sales Gavin Lloyd said.

Percentage change in median weekly rent from May 2022 to May 2023.

The cost of housing was significant for many families, chief executive of 155 Whare Awhina Liz Cassidy-Nelson said.

“It can be up to 70 to 80 per cent of people’s income to get shelter. That is the struggle people are contending with.”

Cassidy-Nelson said because of housing costs, many Northlanders couldn’t afford to buy healthy kai.

“We are talking about a range of people. There is no discrimination there, they are all impacted if they don’t own their own home,” she said.

“We have limitations within our laws as to how often landlords can raise rent, however, they still continue to be raised on that basis.”

Cassidy-Nelson said families didn’t have an option but to “put up with the raise”.

The manager from Ray White’s rental department, which looks after the Whangārei and Bream Bay areas, agrees there has been a definite increase in rents from this time last year.

What renters paid depended on the area they rented, she said.

Those in One Tree Point and Kamo will typically pay more, while Morningside and Whau Valley properties are on the lower side.

She attributed the higher rent prices to increases in sale prices over the last few years, as well as the added expense of Healthy Homes compliance.

Unlike other regions, Northland has seen a 45 per cent increase in the number of listings on Trade Me from May 2022.

“Properties that are not able to be sold in the market are now becoming rental properties,” the Ray White rental department manager said.

“Family homes that haven’t been able to be sold, because they are not able to achieve the desired sale price, are now for the first time becoming rental properties.”

Still said there was a strong demand for properties in Whangārei and Bream Bay.

Northland rental property listings have been on site for a median of 20 days in the past 12 months. That is up three days from the previous 12-month period.

The Trade Me Property Rental Price Index is calculated using the rounded median rent in a month – a statistical assessment of the current advertised rent being charged by landlords and property managers. On average, more than 18,000 rental properties are listed on site each month.

The figures follow the Green Party’s release of a collection of stories showing the dire rental situation across New Zealand. The party published 70 of more than 700 stories it received from renters.

One renter said they paid $1100 for a five-bedroom flat and one room had no windows and the bathroom was full of mould and no working ventilator.

Another is paying $600 for a house with a bathroom that has no hot water, a shower with no water pressure and a toilet that clogs every time it’s used.

“I work five jobs to make sure we can afford the rent. The trauma that comes with not being able to get comfortable in a house that will probably be sold again soon runs deep,” another renter said.

“It means every time this happens, I have to take leave off work to go to house viewings that have 120 people at to look at a unit that costs more than my main wage a week.”