About one in three New Zealand households rent and that number is expected to rise as people realise the dream of owning their own home is out of reach.
About 28.9 per cent of those renting households pay more than 40 per cent of their income in rent.
Rental growth is running at historically high levels, and according to Stats NZ, new tenancy flow growth was 6.8 per cent in the year to January. That is well above the long-term average growth rate of 3.2 per cent and reflects further growth in wages as well as a tightening supply and demand balance.
Gross rental yields nationally have edged back up to 3.2 per cent from a trough of 2.6 per cent for much of 2022 and is the highest level since late 2020. But CoreLogic's chief property economist, Kelvin Davidson, says that is still relatively low by past standards, and is less than the income returns on some other asset classes, such as
