Rents have begun to decline in Canterbury over the last six months, while they’ve been falling in Auckland and Wellington over the last year.
Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
At least a third of people taking out new tenancies this year are paying less rent than the tenants who lived in the property before them.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said that, for new tenancies since January 1, 30 percent were paying weekly rent lower than the initial weekly rent for the previous tenancy at that address.
The data used a 500-day limit between the start of the last tenancy and the start of the newest tenancy. This provides a sample of about 33,000 homes.
“The number of tenancies that have been re-let at a lower rent than the actual end rent being paid would be higher than this but is not able to be measured from the bond data – 41 percent of new tenancies had the same weekly rent as the previous tenancy,” the spokesperson said.
HUD said the rental market was experiencing a period of easing price inflation driven by previously strong construction and slowing migration.
“While rents have been falling in Auckland and Wellington over the last year, they have only begun to decline in Canterbury over the last six months.
“The HUD-RPI, which measures rental inflation, showed nation-wide rents were 0.1 percent lower than 12 months ago in July 2025.”
Real estate agency Barfoot & Thompson said some of the properties for rent on its books had to have their rent reduced to find tenants.
General manager for property management Anil Anna said about 62 percent were renting for their initial asking price, and 38 percent for less.
“These proportions have been quite consistent over the past 12 to 16 months. For example, in August 2024, the split was 61 percent and 39 percent respectively. This compares to August 2023, when it was 75 percent and 25 percent respectively, which is in the more typical range for the market over the longer term.”
Property investment coach Steven Goodey said it was something he had seen in the market. It was due to lower immigration, and an over supply of new builds he said.
“It’s great for renters but not that flash for landlords who have to offer more value now while handling historically high rates and insurance.”
Cotality chief property economist Kelvin Davidson agreed the drivers for the rental market were in tenants’ favour.
“I would suspect if you’re a tenant circulating around going into a new property the rent might be lower than what the previous tenants paid.”
He said some people renewing a lease would also pay less.
He said Auckland and Wellington rents were down about 2 percent over the year, according to MBIE data.
While the percentages looked small, falls of any sort did not happen often, he said.
“It seems like quite a weak rental market. I don’t think there’s much reason to think might turn around in near term.”
But he said rents were still high compared to incomes overall.
Stats NZ reports on the stock measure of rent prices, which includes existing tenancies and tends to provide a higher rate of increase.
It said rent prices lifted 2.1 percent in the year to August, but the last time that the rate was below that was in March 2011.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.