​The median weekly rent across New Zealand continued to climb steadily in the year to May, but growth was slower than last month according to the latest Trade Me Property Rental Index. Head of Trade Me Property Nigel Jeffries said the median weekly rent increased 4.8 per cent over the year to land at $440 in May. “Kiwi tenants are having to dig deeper – typically their rental property is costing them $1000 more per annum than it was a year ago. Markets like Auckland, the Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Northland are all experiencing very strong demand for rental properties.”

​New household tenure data from Statistics New Zealand shows that the number of households renting has increased significantly over the last 10 years. As at 31 March 2006, there were 1,546,300 households in this country, of which 1,033,900 were owner-occupiers (67%) and 446,500 (29%) were renters.