Trade Me property spokesperson Gavin Lloyd said the latest figures showed the median rental for Selwyn was $600 in December, which was 11 per cent higher than December 2021.
Rolleston residents have reported on social media they are being told their annual rent increase was up to $80 a week.
One single mum was searching for a two-to-three bedroom home after she heard that day her rent was going up $70.
“I have talked to the property manager and was just told it’s due to interest rate hikes and in line with the market,” she said.
Another woman commented her rent had increased $80 a week. She also understood it was in line with the current market rental rate.
“Absolutely disgusting that this is how things are for tenants now,” she said.
West Melton resident Meg Knowler told the Selwyn Times she and her partner, who worked in Dunsandel, had been looking for a rental property for the last six weeks after returning from Australia.
They were living with her partner’s parents but wanted to get their own place before they had their baby, due in July. They were wanting a rental property for about six months as they looked around for a home to buy.
Knowler said their budget was $450 a week. Prices in Rolleston were too high, at around $540 for a small house and $670 for three to four bedrooms.
So they were looking further south; however, they had not been successful with the three places they had applied for so far.
Knowler believed landlords were favouring tenants who could stay for a year or more.
Trade Me’s December rental price index released last week shows the $600 weekly median rent for Selwyn in December was higher than the median for Canterbury, which was $520, and higher than the national median of $580.
The index shows, with the exception of Wellington, every region saw rents climb in 2022.
“Rents finished off 2022 at an all-time high, with tenants in almost every region having to dig deeper into their wallets,” Lloyd said.
Ray White Red Chili Property Management business manager Cara Callister at Lincoln said rents in Selwyn had increased at a faster rate than the rest of the country, mostly due to three factors.
There was a large amount of new builds, which attracted higher rental prices than older homes, a population explosion in Rolleston increasing demand, and not enough stock to keep up with demand.
Callister said most annual rent increases recently had been up to $50.
“The rental market is strong and there are plenty of families looking for new homes in the area for a more suburban family-focused lifestyle,” she said.
