Rents in Hawke’s Bay rose 15% year-over-year as of February, compared to a 2% rise nationally, giving our region the second-highest increase in New Zealand.
According to Trade Me Property, the average rent in HB was $530 per week. By comparison, Auckland averaged $590 (the highest being Rodney at $645) and Wellington was $600.
Obviously not good news for HB renters. This is one area where we don’t want to compete with the big cities!
At this writing, 61 rentals were on offer in Hawke’s Bay on Trade Me, ranging from a handful below $400 to one over $1000. Most were in the $400-$600 range.
The Government’s recently announced housing policy changes will have an adverse impact on rents according to many pundits, as they expect the phased removal of mortgage interest deductibility for rental properties will simply become a cost landlords shift onto renters.
Mark Sweet examined the HB housing situation in our Mar/Apr BayBuzz mag, Housing in crisis, and will be posting his assessment of the Government policy changes here next week.
This is bad news for renters not landlords, what on earth are the Govt thinking. I think they didn’t haven’t thought this one through. Probably listened to Julian Genter sounds like a wacky Green policy.