Rents increase, fewer properties available
The supply of rental properties in New Zealand has reached the highest level for any April in almost a decade, but not in Oamaru, where stocks have dropped and rents are up $65 a week, new data shows.
"The total number of new rental listings on the market last month was 5868, up 24.1% year-on-year from 4729.
"But we need to look back as far as April 2016 (6836) to see numbers that can match the current level of supply," realestate.co.nz spokeswoman Vanessa Williams said.
"Regions leading the charge with the greatest number of new listings are, to be expected, New Zealand's big three: Auckland (2375, up 8.6% year-on-year), Canterbury (704, up 39.4% year-on-year), and Wellington (691, up 196.6% year-on-year)," she said.
However, the realestate.co.nz data tells a different story for Oamaru, showing the average rent there is $476 a week.
That is up 15.7% year-on-year, while listings fell 6.7%, with just 14 new listings last month.
As to be expected, there is a region that bucks the trend.
Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes reported an all-time high with an average rental price of $870 per week in April, a 3.0% increase year-on-year.
Across the wider Otago region, rents were up just 1.2% to $528, while there was a 0.2% drop in Canterbury, where the average rent is $581.
"I found it really fascinating about how much your new listings had dropped year-on-year," Ms Williams said.
"I think probably most interestingly was your [Oamaru's] year-on-year increase in terms of the average rental rate," she said.
"I wonder if that is because you are a lower price-bracket region."
The reason for the rent increase in Oamaru was probably because regional New Zealand did not experience the same market saturation as major centres did during the Covid-19 pandemic.
That market, particularly in Auckland, became saturated and unsustainable, Ms Williams said.
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