Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern rejects claims her Government is responsible for 'exponential' rises in rents

PM Jacinda Ardern: "Rents, on average, have increased between 4 and 5 per cent each year." Photo / AP

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has rejected the Opposition's claims that average rents have increased by more than twice as much under her Government than they did under National.

She told Breakfast that the data provided to her showed rent rises have been "pretty consistent" across the last five years.

"Rents, on average, have increased between 4 and 5 per cent each year."

This was despite National's claims rents had gone up 2.5 times faster under the Labour-led Government than they did under National.

"Median rents have risen by $30 a week in the past 12 months, which is an increase of $1560 a year," National Leader Simon Bridges said earlier this week.

He blamed "a raft of poorly thought through policies" including the extension of the bright-line test, ring-fencing of losses, more burdensome regulations, the ban on foreign investment as well as the "threat of a capital gains tax".

But Ardern said this was not the case.

The bright-line test, for example, had been brought in under National's watch but extended from three to five years by this Government.

She said it was true to say there had been rent increases, but it was not true for the Opposition to claim there had been an exponential rise in rents because of the Government.

"The reason for the increases, as anyone would assume, if you have more demand than you do supply, then it's a problem," she told Breakfast.

"I absolutely acknowledge that, which is why we are intervening in the market," she said referring to the Government's KiwiBuild policy which she said was solving the supply side issues.

Housing Minister Phil Twyford was singing a similar tune yesterday and pointed the finger back at the previous National Government.

"Reserve Bank research shows that rents are driven primarily by supply and demand, not landlord costs. Our Government inherited a dire shortage of housing around the country after the former government ignored the housing crisis."

Ardern defended the Government's approach to housing.

In regards to the Government's Healthy Homes legislation, Ardern said her view was most landlords do want to provide a warm dry home for their tenants and that is not "an unreasonable expectation".

"Yes, we have made some changes to say we don't want people to get pinged with letting fees, but those are actually changes we need to make because in our marketplace at the moment, more people are renting."

Meanwhile, the Green Party welcomed New Zealand's Green Building Council's HomeFit initiative.

HomeFit is an online system people can use to see if a home they're living in, or looking to live in, was safe, healthy, warm, dry and energy efficient.

"HomeFit is exactly the sort of scheme that will give confidence to buyers and renters that their homes are healthy and good for the environment," said Green Party Co-Leader Marama Davidson.