The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) also publishes rental data based on bonds from new rentals, which is a different set of data and generally features lower prices than Trade Me’s data.
According to that information, the median rental price in Hawke’s Bay for September was $600, which was the same as September 2024.
It also showed the median rental price in Hawke’s Bay has not exceeded $620 this year, but did go above $620 during two months last year (reaching a high of $630).
The last time the median rental price was below $500 in Hawke’s Bay was 2021.
Nationwide, other regions are also experiencing a slight fall in rents year-on-year.
Quinovic Property Management’s Hastings principal Ross Davidson said the rental market had “softened” over the winter.
He said they were getting about 10 applications when a new rental was advertised.
In comparison, in 2023 it was not uncommon for a rental to attract over 50 applications, after Cyclone Gabrielle. That was near the height of the region’s rental crisis.
“There is still demand for good properties, but just not the huge demand that there was before,” Davidson said.
“What people have been charging for rentals has slightly eased back a bit, so we are not seeing the increase in the rents that there was.
“There has been a slight correction on that, which is probably a good thing.”
He said a combination of factors had impacted the rental market, such as affordability, immigration not being high, Kiwis heading to Australia, and social housing projects being completed.
Cotality chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said the “handbrake” had been applied to rising rental prices in Hawke’s Bay.
However, he said rental prices did not tend to decline but rather stay flat for a period after growth, which was what he expected to see in Hawke’s Bay in the coming months.
He said rent prices tended to stall when tenants’ ability to pay had reached a limit.
A Napier father, who did not want to be named, has been looking for a new rental for his large family for a few weeks.
He said it was “really rough”.
“What people are asking, it is still too high for people to be able to afford,” he said.
“In Napier, I haven’t seen any homes for around $600 for three bedrooms.”
He said if for those needing four bedrooms, it was common for prices to be $700 per week or higher in Napier.
“For us, everything that goes on the rental, it is taken out of the food, out of being able to pay for power, and internet is an essential now, so whatever you are paying on rent is coming out of other areas.”
He said their current rental was being put on the market, and he had applied for more than 30 rentals in the last month.
