Whanganui's rental prices are still below the national average but so is the city's mean yearly income. Photo / Bevan Conley
Whanganui's rental prices are still below the national average but so is the city's mean yearly income. Photo / Bevan Conley
Rental property prices in Whanganui grew at almost double the rate of the national average over the last 12 months and demand for housing remains high.
The average weekly rent in Whanganui in 2023 was $433 - lower than the national average of $525 - but the growth in rentprices in the district was 9.1 per cent for the year to March.
Nationally, it was 4.8 per cent, according to Infometrics data presented to Whanganui District councillors this week.
Whanganui resident Alex McKenzie has rented through friends over the last few years - at rates much lower than the current market value.
He said there was no way he could afford something otherwise.
“I wouldn’t want to pay that kind of rent anyway, it’s absolutely crazy,” he said.
“You eat food, pay bills, then all the rest would go on rent. Basically, you’re living to pay off someone else’s house.
“I would rather pay for someone’s house that I know. I want them to have that house. If it’s some random landlord that owns five or six properties? No thanks.”
If he had to, he would live in his van instead, McKenzie said.
“That’s not really a horror story, though. I like living in it and it’s a great backup.”
Whanganui’s rent-to-income proportion was currently far higher than the national average of 21.8 per cent (of weekly income).
Council policy manager Elise Broadbent said she didn’t have all the answers as to why that was.
She thought it was a mix of things, including significant changes in the property market after Covid-19, upgrades being made to rental properties, and healthy homes standards which required greater investment.
Community House manager Shelley Loader. Photo / Bevan Conley
Mean annual earnings in the Whanganui district were $57,896 for 2022 - around $12,000 lower than the national average - with low-skilled jobs making up 36 per cent of total employment.
Community House manager Shelley Loader said rental prices went up with house prices during the first years of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, rents remained the same despite house prices falling.
“It’s a bit like food at the supermarket - once it goes up that’s it,” Loader said.
“I don’t think they (rental prices) are fair and it’s causing a situation where people don’t have any disposable income to save.
“That’s making it impossible for people to ever own their own home.”
Property Brokers Whanganui property management team leader Reinhardt Bester said his office usually had between 12 and 16 listings advertised at any given time.
There was still demand, even at the higher end of the price scale, he said.
“Sometimes they can take about four weeks to rent but some go a lot quicker - within a week.
“One example was last week in Springvale. There were 16 families at the viewing and that’s a property at $530 a week.”
Loader said a lot of the housing on the lower end of the spectrum was “very, very overpriced” in comparison to higher-quality properties.
“Just look online at properties for rent and you’ll see there isn’t a huge price range. There is a huge range in quality though.
“There are many landlords out there who are good people - they do maintenance on the house, they care about the people living there - but a lot of people we deal with, they get absolutely nothing for their money.
“They can’t even get things fixed when they break.”
A Springvale rental property listed at $530 per week had 16 families at its viewing. Photo / Bevan Conley
Landlords Link is approaching 20 years in business in Whanganui.
New business manager Tracey Onishenko said she remembered when houses were going for $350 per week, and even then they were usually only available to people who were well off.
“Now, you might be able to get a one-bedroom studio for that but it would still be hard.
“I’m a landlord myself and I don’t want to have to keep putting my rents up.
“It’s the interest rates, they’re crazy, and even maintenance. To get a plumber or an electrician is double what it used to be.”
Most landlords were “dipping into their own pocket to top things up”, Onishenko said.
“We have had some tenants that have been in houses for 10 or even 20 years with very, very low rents.
“All of a sudden, a new owner will buy it and make it the market rent. The tenants think they are being ripped off but it’s just because the new owners have to cover their costs.”
Bester said Whanganui was still an attractive place to rent compared to other parts of the country.
There had been a lot of overseas interest recently, particularly from South Africa.
“They are coming to Whanganui because there is work here for them and the housing is comparative to their income - they can afford to rent when they arrive.”
He said some properties had dramatic increases in price but on average, rentals went up by around $50 over the past 12 months.
“We still haven’t had the large (price) drive that other areas have had.”
Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.
