It seems this summertime the living really is easy in Queenstown, with a 2% decrease in rent and a 7% increase in rental listings reported for the last quarter of 2011.
Online auction website TradeMe last week released an analysis of its rental listings for October to December compared with the same period in 2010 that show listings were down in most major metropolitan regions.
However, the student cities of Palmerston North (+6%) and Dunedin (+28%) bucked the trend, with Queenstown following suit, despite a 2% increase in inquiries over the period.
A site spokesman said it was good for those looking to rent, with more choice at a cheaper price, but not so favourable for landlords.
Keith Hibbs, manager of Queenstown's Executive Accommodation, said the company's management portfolio over the period had certainly gone up in line with the rental listing increase.
Otherwise, he said, it was hard to tell about the rent because in popular areas such as Frankton and Queenstown Hill it had increased and in other areas it had decreased.
"It really depends on where they are and also depends on the properties themselves."
Queenstown Accommodation Centre director Allan Baillie said he had seen the opposite.
"With our rentals, it certainly seems that rent has gone up over the last 12 months by 10%," Mr Baillie said.
"Supply is, from our perspective, down on the average of the last three years." He said the auction site figures "would not tell a lie", as they included all commercial listings, but he thought the disparity in figures might have been caused by the company's predilection for good quality over quantity.
Falls in the number of listings were recorded in Christchurch (-32%), Wellington (-20%), and Auckland's North Shore (-14%).
Rental demand nationwide was up 13% in the same quarter, led by Manukau (25%) and Waitakere (20%) and North Shore (19%). Dunedin was the only major metropolitan area to record a drop in demand (11%).
