Auckland rents up $2000 in a year

Rents in Auckland have increased over the past year, but appear to have stabilised over the past two months. Photo / NZ Herald

Auckland residential rents have risen by an average of $2000 over the last year - a 9 per cent hike.

Nigel Jeffries, head of TradeMe Property, says the average Auckland rent is now $499 a week and had stayed fixed at that level over the last two months.

"While we're yet to see average weekly rents break through the $500 per week ceiling, this still represents a 9 per cent increase on September last year and has added more than $2000 in annual rent costs for a typical Auckland tenant," Jeffries said.

Even with that rise, tenants are facing much lower price rises than house buyers.

"The expected selling price of an Auckland property has increased by almost $128,000 over the same period, making it more difficult to get on the property ladder and putting pressure on new landlords to recoup their costs," he said.

Between September 2010 and September 2015, median weekly rents have risen almost 30 per cent in Auckland, adding just under $6000 a year to the cost of renting a typical property across the city, the figures showed.

In other parts of the country, tenants are also facing rent rises.

Nationally, the average property is being let for $420/week, the same rent as March this year and up only $20/week on the same time last year.

But in the south, Jeffries said rents are down.

"A typical Christchurch renter saved $1560 in the year to September following a 6.5 per cent fall in median asking rent to $430 per week. Over the past five years, rents in the Garden City have risen by almost 39 per cent with the largest component of that occurring between 2011 and 2014 during the rebuild. That growth topped out in March this year at $495 per week, but has cooled down a lot over the past six months," Jeffries said.