The national median weekly rent rose 5 dollars to 625 dollars in April, the first month-on-month increase recorded by the Trade Me Property Rental Price Index since November 2025. The lift snaps a five-month run of flat or falling rents and arrives as supply has tightened in several regions even though demand has continued to grow.
Trade Me Property spokesperson Casey Wylde said the number of rental listings available across the country in April was down 5 percent compared with the same month last year, while enquiry-based demand was up 8 percent. The combination of a thinner pool of properties and more tenants looking has begun to push the national figure up again, even though the median is still 5 dollars below where it sat a year ago.
The rebound was driven by the regions rather than the main centres. Several smaller markets recorded sharp annual gains, while Auckland and Wellington have continued to soften through autumn.
Bay of Plenty has now held the title of the most expensive region in the country for three months running. The median weekly rent there climbed to 670 dollars in April, up 10 dollars on a year ago. The region has been buoyed by steady demand from retirees moving north and from families relocating out of Auckland in search of cheaper housing and outdoor lifestyle, even as the wider Bay of Plenty economy continues to feel the pinch from the kiwifruit industry’s slow recovery from the 2022 fruit price collapse.
Otago recorded the largest annual jump of any region, with the median rising 40 dollars over the past 12 months to 640 dollars a week. Hawke’s Bay sits just behind on 640 dollars and Gisborne has come back to 630 dollars, although that is roughly 55 dollars below where it was at this time in 2025.
Auckland has continued its slow drift downward. The median weekly rent in the country’s biggest market fell 10 dollars over the year to 660 dollars, even though Trade Me recorded an 11 percent rise in demand for Auckland rentals and a 5 percent fall in available stock. Wylde said the city’s apartment and townhouse segment has remained the softest part of the market, with new builds and smaller dwellings still feeding into supply.
Wellington has experienced the steepest fall of the main centres. The median weekly rent in the capital is now 600 dollars, down 40 dollars on a year ago. The slide reflects a long stretch of public service uncertainty in Wellington, with hiring freezes and budget pressure across central government weighing on the share of well-paid renters in the market. The government’s announcement this week of a target of roughly 8,700 fewer public service jobs by mid-2029 is likely to extend that drag.
Christchurch told the opposite story at the top end. Median weekly rent for three-to-four-bedroom homes in the city hit a record high of 660 dollars in April. Wylde said quality family homes were still highly sought after, and Trade Me’s data shows the gap between family-sized homes and smaller dwellings continues to widen across the country. Five-plus-bedroom homes were up in nearly every region, while one and two-bedroom units were flat compared with a year ago.
Some smaller regions told a more nuanced story about supply. In Taranaki the number of new listings was up 30 percent on a year ago, but the median weekly rent barely moved, suggesting that landlords there have been unable to push prices in the face of more competition for tenants. Canterbury sat at a median of 580 dollars, Waikato at 590 dollars, Manawatū-Whanganui at 550 dollars and Southland remained the most affordable region at 495 dollars a week.
The April figures land in an unsettled market. Westpac home loan data released over the weekend showed million-dollar mortgages now make up one in six new home loans at the bank, with the Auckland first-home buyer median sitting near 900,000 dollars. At the same time, Greg Ninness at Interest.co.nz has written about a large overhang of unsold properties heading into winter, with both withdrawn listings and inventory rising at the same time.
For renters, the message from the Trade Me data is that the easy phase of the post-2022 correction has stalled. After almost two years in which falling rents helped offset rising grocery, insurance and fuel costs, the median has now turned. In the regions where supply is thinnest, the rebound is already meaningful in dollar terms, and Otago’s 40-dollar annual jump translates into roughly 2,080 dollars more in rent over a year for a household paying the median.
For landlords, the data underlines how much the rental market has split along the lines of property type. Family homes with three or more bedrooms have stayed scarce and the rents being asked for them have continued to rise even as headline figures softened. Smaller units and apartments, particularly in Auckland and Wellington, are still working through an oversupply caused by the boom in townhouse and apartment consents earlier this decade.
The next Trade Me Rental Price Index update is due in mid-June and will give the first read on whether April’s lift was the start of a broader rebound or a one-month bounce. Either way, the longer-term picture is one of tighter supply, persistent demand growth from migration and stretched first-home buyer affordability all pushing back against rent restraint. Tenants weighing whether a proposed rent rise is allowable, or how much notice their landlord owes them, can read our guide to your rights as a tenant in New Zealand.
What are you seeing in your region? Is your rent climbing, holding steady or finally coming down? Tell us in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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