{"id":222790,"date":"2026-01-08T06:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T06:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/222790\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T06:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T06:45:09","slug":"the-most-expensive-place-to-rent-in-new-zealand-is-central-otago-lakes-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/222790\/","title":{"rendered":"The most expensive place to rent in New Zealand is Central Otago Lakes District"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Queenstown,<\/p>\n

\nRenting in the Central Otago Lakes District region is now more expensive than Auckland.
\nPhoto: Unsplash\/ Michael Amadeus\n<\/p>\n

Central Otago Lakes District average rents hit $891 per week
\nNational average weekly rent drops 2.4 percent to $626 per week
\nWellington’s average weekly rent drops 8.40 percent to $663 per week<\/p>\n

In a league of its own<\/p>\n

Central Otago Lakes District remains the priciest place to rent in New Zealand, with the average weekly price hitting $891 – more than $200 above Auckland – according to realestate.co.nz.<\/p>\n

Rents climbed 11.8 percent over the year to December, reflecting strong demand and a tight pool of available properties.<\/p>\n

The central North Island recorded the second\u2011largest annual increase, with rents rising 6.2 percent to $597 per week.<\/p>\n

Nationally, the average rent fell 2.4 percent to $626 per week.<\/p>\n

Realestate.co.nz spokesperson Vanessa Williams said the data shows a clear split emerging between premium lifestyle regions and the rest of the market.<\/p>\n

“Central Otago\/Lakes District continues to sit in a league of its own, driven by strong demand and a limited pool of rentals which is pushing prices to record highs.”<\/p>\n

“When weekly rental prices start closing in on mortgage repayments, it’s no surprise that renters are making the leap into home ownership<\/a> and our data shows that shift is well underway.”<\/p>\n

It’s a buyers market elsewhere<\/p>\n

The news is much better for renters across the rest of the country, as 13 of 19 regions recorded annual price drops compared to December 2024.<\/p>\n

Coromandel saw the steepest decline, with average rents plunging 41.0 percent to $539 per week.<\/p>\n

Wellington followed with an 8.4 percent fall to $663, while Auckland slipped 1.7 percent to $683.<\/p>\n

Realestate.co.nz said the rental market is now flooded with stock, with new listings up 19.8 percent year\u2011on\u2011year to 5,349 in December 2025.<\/p>\n

Wellington’s number of rentals show a staggering increase of 91.5 percent to 925 properties.<\/p>\n

Vanessa Williams says it will be a buyers market for the foreseeable future in most parts of the country.<\/p>\n

She said the weakness in Auckland and Wellington reflected their weak economies, and soft jobs markets.<\/p>\n

“With stock building and competition among landlords rising, renters will continue to find themselves in a stronger position to negotiate on price or lease terms in 2026.”<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Renting in the Central Otago Lakes District region is now more expensive than Auckland. Photo: Unsplash\/ Michael Amadeus…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-222790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}