City sees rise in cost of renting

Philip Kubiak

Rents are up in Wanganui and a local real estate manager says there is strong demand for good rentals in the area.

The median rent for a house in Wanganui rose 11 per cent to $200 this August, compared to the same month last year, according to Trade Me Property.

Property Brokers Wanganui branch manager Philip Kubiak said the company was starting to see an increase in rents.

"I just think there's a strong demand for good rental property in Wanganui at the moment. Rents are just sort of slowly realigning themselves with other centres."

Fewer properties on the market in Wanganui meant people were renting while they put deposits together.

Mr Kubiak said rents remained affordable compared to other parts of the country, despite the increase. He was not aware of any locals having trouble finding an affordable rental.

"Our property management team generally are filling all our vacant properties pretty quickly," he said.

Mr Kubiak also did not think a shortage was looming.

Head of Trade Me Property Nigel Jeffries said that a property renter in Auckland could now expect to pay $400 per week for even the smallest unit or one-bedroom home.

Outside Auckland, median asking rent remained relatively stable for the fourth month in a row, up 3 per cent to $360 per week.

Over the past five years, the median asking rent for a property outside Auckland has increased 20 per cent from $300 per week in August 2010 to $360 per week in August 2015.

Median asking rents increased in 10 regions, fell in three regions and were unchanged in two regions.

The Trade Me Property Rental Price Index measures trends in median weekly rents for residential properties on Trade Me Property rented out by real estate property managers and private landlords over the past month. Around 11,000 rental properties are let via Trade Me Property each month.