It overtakes Auckland as NZ's most expensive rental market
Gisborne has claimed an unexpected title: New Zealand’s most expensive place to rent. According to Trade Me’s latest rental price index, the region’s median weekly rent surged 4.6% in April to $680 - leapfrogging Auckland, where median rents fell to $670.
It’s a sharp contrast to national trends, with rents across the country falling for the second consecutive month.
Once marketed as an affordable destination for remote workers and digital nomads, Gisborne is now bucking the national trend of falling rental prices, Stuff reported.
Demand surges as supply shrinks
Rental supply across most of New Zealand has increased - up 27% year-on-year, according to Trade Me Property’s Casey Wylde - giving tenants greater leverage and cooling rents in major centres like Auckland, Wellington and the Bay of Plenty. But Gisborne’s story is different.
“Movement in the median rental price can fluctuate more so than those regions where there’s greater supply,” Wylde said. Fewer listings and a skew toward larger homes are driving up the local median.
“In April there were more houses for rent compared to units, townhouses and apartments,” she explained. “Of those houses for rent, more of them were three or more bedrooms which demand a higher rent.”
With the national median rent sitting at $560, tenants are now paying around $20 less a week than they were in April 2024, Wylde said.
As of May 23, there were just 39 rentals listed in Gisborne on Trade Me, with 20 of them priced at or above the $680 median. The most expensive listing: a four-bedroom home asking $1,200 a week.
Cyclone Gabrielle and COVID shrink housing stock
The city’s housing crisis has been exacerbated by supply shocks. “First COVID, then Cyclone Gabrielle impacted housing stock,” said Kelvin Davidson, chief property economist at Cotality NZ.
“Despite some residents leaving, there’s an influx of temporary workers after a disaster… so demand for rentals at a time of restricted housing stock means that rental prices have been driven upwards.”
Gisborne is now the worst region in the country for rental affordability, based on data from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. Incomes have failed to keep pace with rapidly rising rents, which are up more than 440% since the 1990s - well above the national increase of around 300%.
Contractors, industries driving up competition
The local rental market is also being reshaped by cyclone recovery efforts and a growing pool of contract workers in agriculture and infrastructure, Stuff reported.
“A limited housing supply, worsened by weather events and a rise in short-term rentals for contractors, means quality long-term rentals are highly sought after,” said Hamish Harrison, property investment specialist at Ray White Gisborne.
“Smaller units or flats are most in demand, especially among first-time renters and older tenants looking for affordable, manageable housing options.”
Studios now top $400 a week
Once considered a budget-friendly region, even Gisborne’s smallest properties now carry hefty price tags. Studios closer to town are listed for more than $400 per week, while a one-bedroom rural cottage 15 minutes out is the cheapest available at $350.
Elsewhere in the country, affordability is improving. Rents dropped 4.8% in Otago, 2.9% in the Bay of Plenty, and 1.5% in Auckland. Wellington saw median rents for one- and two-bedroom homes fall 6.7%.
“The current supply remains up 27% on the same time last year and is helping to keep a downward pressure on rental prices, offering renters more options and leverage to negotiate,” Wylde said.
As the rest of New Zealand sees relief from surging rents, Gisborne remains an outlier - where affordability is evaporating faster than anywhere else.
