Landlords Link Whanganui branch manager Monique Haami-Heron said rents were “definitely high”.
“Living costs are still challenging in Whanganui, especially because Whanganui can still sit in the lower income household [category],” she said.
Whanganui’s average annual household income in 2025 was $108,262, while nationally it was $143,748.
Infometrics principal economist Nick Brunsdon said annual household incomes included any kind of taxable income earned – including wages, self-employment, benefits, New Zealand pension (superannuation) and ACC.
Infometrics principal economist Nick Brunsdon said Whanganui’s rent was less affordable than in Auckland when comparing median weekly rent and median annual household income.
The total earnings of the Whanganui District are divided by an estimated number of households in the district.
Often larger cities were able to offer more affordable rental housing, with greater choice, versus smaller cities limited by standalone house property rentals, Brunsdon said.
“If we’re going to compare Whanganui with Auckland in terms of median rent, essentially the rent is $150 a week cheaper in Whanganui.
“It’s just that the incomes are that much lower that it’s still more unaffordable in Whanganui.”
Meanwhile, Haami-Heron said Whanganui residents coming out of long-term rentals were facing rents that were double or more than what they had been paying for years.
“It is a shock to the system for some people, and hard for people to adjust.”
Increases in vacancy times for listed rentals in recent years showed the market no longer reflected what people could afford in Whanganui, she said.
“I remember five years ago, we used to be able to rent a property in one week and that was probably the max time it would sit vacant.
“This year, the average vacancy time on a property would be, say, three to four weeks, [or] could be even more.”
Rent was affordable in Whanganui but surpassed the national average in 2021.
From 2000 to 2017, rent was about 13% to 17% of household income.
It has risen every year since 2018.
Haami-Heron said the turning point was the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Six years ago, rents were still quite low.
“When Covid hit, I remember there were a lot of investors just scooping up properties and they were putting rents up because, obviously, [the] cost of everything was going up and it was a booming market.
“And now that we’ve kind of settled back in and it’s been a few years since then, now you’d expect rents to drop a little bit, but they actually haven’t.”
The inflated prices became the market’s basis, continuing to increase by $10 or $20 each time a property hit the market, she said.
“That’s why the market has been stagnant.”
Harcourts Whanganui property manager Brittany Collins said demand for rental properties in Whanganui was still strong but “very price-sensitive”.
“If it’s not priced right, it’s going to sit there.”
Haami-Heron said increasing living costs and a low buying market had also affected Whanganui’s rental market by putting pressure on property owners.
Owners who could not sell were turning to renting.
“They’re not getting the price that they want, so then they come to us to rent them out and then they still expect to have a high rental amount.”
Collins said rising rates, complying with healthy homes standards and increasing living costs were costing landlords “a lot of money”.
“They’ve got to get it back from somewhere.”
Haami-Heron said the high number of rentals available gave hope that the market could come down again soon.
Landlords could also help by being more “realistic” about how much of their mortgages they expected tenants to cover, especially when taking on a mortgage that cost more than anticipated, she said.
Collins said Whanganui was still one of the more affordable places to live in New Zealand.
“Everything increases every year apart from, unfortunately, most wages.”
Erin Smith is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.