Higher rents a sting in the tail for tenants
Rising house rents as landlords chase yields.
Landlords are starting to chase higher yields on their residential investment property and rents rose 9% last month.
The national median for renting a house is $420 a week, according to the Trade Me [NZX: TME] Property Rental Price Index.
A 9% year-on-year increase in January is the biggest single-month rise the index has recorded for more than five years.
Median weekly rents clicked up $20 a week between December and January. Trade Me Property head Nigel Jeffries says it is grim news for tenants.
“The rental market is experiencing pressure from landlords chasing better yields for investment property in the wake of relentless growth in property prices. It is a matter of when, not if, landlords start recovering some level of yield.”
He says the differential between median rents and property price expectations over the past five years has narrowed significantly as a result of the January rent rise. The price index has recorded a 25% increase in the asking price for rents since 2010, with median rents rising 24% over the same period.
Sally Lindsay
Fri, 20 Feb 2015
Fri, 20 Feb 2015
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Higher rents a sting in the tail for tenants
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