Huge increase in rentals coming to the market in Wellington

Wednesday, 9 July 2025

Rental prices in the Wellington region have dropped by 10.9% in the last year.

Wellington is leading the country’s rental price drops as a whopping number of new rental properties flood the market.

Rental prices have dropped across most of the country with Wellington down 10.9% since last year while the number of rentals available has seen an 82.2% increase in the number of new listings.

The average price of a rental in the Wellington region is now $625 a week compared to last year when it was $701.

The number of rentals available, from realestate.co.nz for June 2025.

And new listings went from 276 in June last year to 503 available at the same time this year.

Nationally the average rental price was $636, down 2.7% from $653 in June last year.

Realestate.co.nz’s Vanessa Williams said declining rental prices in a tough economic climate was welcome news for renters.

“We know that any reduced cost, no matter how big or small, does make a difference for many household budgets.”

A greater-than-average rental price drop also happened in Hawke’s Bay which saw it down 6.6% from $677 last year to $632 this year.

But down south - where trends show people are moving to - showed no such respite for renters. West Coast’s average rental price of $433 was 9.1% higher than last year when it was $396.

Otago had also seen a rise from $571 to $616 in the last year - an average increase of 8%.

Southland’s average weekly rent of $489 in June was the region’s highest on record, 6.1% more than June 2024 when it was $461.

Realestate.co.nz’s Vanessa Williams said 15.3% more new listings had come on to the market than a year ago.

Williams said it was a continuing trend for the Southland property market,which also set an all-time asking price high for the second month in a row in the June property market.

The choice of rental properties was also rising with 15.3% more new listings coming on to the market than a year ago.

Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay were the only two regions with higher numbers of rentals coming to market since last year - Gisborne with 96% more and Hawke’s Bay with 84.9%.

Waikato also saw a significant increase, rising from 479 in June 2024 to 647 in the last year.

“Greater choice in the market is also keeping prices honest,” Williams said.

“And, with the Healthy Homes deadline having now passed, renters should be assured that a new listing should also be Healthy-Homes compliant.”