National rent creeps up, but market still in tenants’ favour

Wednesday, 17 December 2025

The national median weekly rent on Trade Me was $620 in November.

Rents in some regions declined sharply in November, but the national median weekly rent still crept up by $10 last month, Trade Me figures show.

The property website’s latest Rental Price Index shows the national median was $620 in November, up from $610 in October - which was a two-and-a-half year low.

But it remained 1.6% down on $630 at the same time last year.

Trade Me Property spokesperson Casey Wylde said that after a dip in October the national median rent had steadied again, returning to the $620 mark where it had previously sat since June.

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“As in previous years as the weather heats up, so too do the prices in those summer hot spots, particularly the Bay of Plenty region which starts to attract both an influx of seasonal workers, and holiday makers.”

Rents in the Bay of Plenty rose 1.5% to $660 a week making it the country’s most expensive region for renters in November.

In the Manawatū-Whanganui region rents increased by 1.9% to $550 a week.

But rents in many other regions remained unchanged in November, and several recorded sizeable decreases in rent.

Gisborne’s rents were down 6.3% to $600 a week, from $640 in October, while Marlborough and Taranaki’s were down 5.1% and 4.0% to $560 and $600 respectively.

Wylde said Gisborne was a good example of how localised the market was outside the main centres.

'It's a smaller, lifestyle-driven region, and that can lead to volatility. We've seen significant drops in the median rent, even while search activity is up 20% on last year.”

Auckland continued to be the second most expensive region to rent at $650 a week, but its rent was unchanged on October, and down 3.7% on the same time last year.

The cooling trend in Wellington rents was evident as while its median remained flat in November at $600 a week, it had dropped 7% on an annual basis.

Canterbury’s rents also held steady at $570 last month, but rents for Christchurch urban property - which is apartments, townhouses and units - saw strong annual growth of 2.9% to $530.

In contrast, rents in Auckland’s urban property market were down 1.7% annually to $590, and in Wellington’s they fell by 4.3% to $550.

Realestate.co.nz also released its November rental data recently, and it had the national average asking rent down 3.1% annually to $626 a week from $646 at the same time last year.

It also showed that a record 7253 new listings hit the market in November, a 12.4% increase on the same time last year, and that there was a total of 8801 properties for rent, a 17.4% annual increase.

Realestate.co.nz chief executive Sarah Wood said the surge in supply of rental properties presented clear opportunities for renters, but it also created a market that landlords would need to navigate carefully.

“With more rental properties on the market than ever before, alongside policy settings including changes to pet rules coming into effect this week, the dynamic between landlords and tenants is changing.

“It’s a rental market reset and everyone in the sector will need to adapt.”

But on Tuesday it was reported that new data showed that while rents had eased, renters still had to spend about 40% of an average individual's income on rent each month.