Residential rents ease in Wairarapa | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

Most residential rents in Wairarapa have eased this year compared with the same period in 2010.

A Department of Building and Housing spokesman said rent figures were compiled for the Masterton and combined Carterton and South Wairarapa districts, are gathered from bonds lodged.

The statistics reflect only those properties where bonds are lodged with the department and market rent regions are based on statistical area units from the 2001 Census.

He said the median weekly rent for a single-bedroom flat in Masterton from January to June this year was $135, down $10 from the same period last year; for a two-bedroom flat this year the median was $172, down $8; and for a three-bedroom flat the median was $202, down $22 from the same period last year.

He said the median weekly rent for a two-bedroom flat in Carterton/South Wairarapa from January to June this year was $152, down $13 from the same period last year.

The median weekly rent for a two-bedroom house in Masterton for the six months from January this year was $200, down $20 from the same period last year; for a three-bedroom house the median was $240, down $20 from last year; and for a four-bedroom house the median was $275, down $41 from the same period last year.

The median weekly rent for a two-bedroom house in Carterton/South Wairarapa from January to June this year was $200, down $10 from the same period last year; for a three-bedroom house the median this year was $250, a rise of $10 on the same period last year; and for a four-bedroom house the median this year was $260, up $10 from the same period last year.

Andrew Whitehead, Trust House housing operations manager, said the trust has rental holdings of 377 properties in Masterton, 30 in Carterton and South Wairarapa, and 115 in the Tararua region as far north as Dannevirke.

He said the properties ran from single-bedroom flats to four-bedroom houses and the average weekly rental was $172.

The lowest rental in Wairarapa was $115 a week for a single-bedroom Masterton home and the highest was $260 for a four-bedroom property in the town.

He said the trust had a 97 per cent occupancy rate and the last rent rise was either a $5 or $10 weekly increase, depending on the property, which was enforced in April after a rent review.

Mr Whitehead, who has worked with trust properties since the organisation first took over the homes in 1999, said the weekly rents had in that time consistently run "slightly below" average market rentals in Wairarapa.

"The lower rentals are part of our community ethos but our costs rise all the time, so we have to pass that on to our tenants."

Mr Whitehead said tenants with dependent children occupied about half the trust properties.

For more information on rental costs in Wairarapa go to www.dbh.govt.nz/tenancy.