Lakes/Central rents hit $900 average

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There is profound disillusion and resignation as Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes area rents pass $900 a week on average — and the problem is going to get significantly worse if projects like the Bendigo mine get the go-ahead, Central Otago’s mayor says.

The latest realestate.co.nz rental survey shows the average rent in the area (realestate.co.nz lumps the three districts together as one "area") was $905pw for a standard two-bedroom home last month — nearly $100 more than in February last year.

While Queenstown ($993pw) and Wanaka ($924pw) rents pushed up the average for the whole area, Central Otago’s average weekly rent was still $690pw, 10% more than than this time last year and more than triple the rate of inflation.

The average weekly household income in Central Otago in 2025, according to Infometrics, was $2255, or $117,254 a year, well below the national mean annual household income of $135,224.

The figures appeared not to surprise either an economist or one local politician the Otago Daily Times spoke to, but the two had very different takes on what they signified.

Central Otago District Mayor Tamah Alley said the results were unsurprising.

The council acknowledged it had a role to play in housing and housing affordability and making sure people had somewhere to live, she said.

"The challenge in the past has been we haven't been building enough houses in our area to keep up with how many people want to come and live [in Central Otago].

"That's something that we've been actively looking to address, where we can support developers and the likes to come in."

Population and inequality expert economist Dr Max Rashbrooke said the public had known for a "very" long time that there was insufficient housing in places like Central Otago and the Queenstown Lakes districts.

"It's not the only place in the country, but it's arguably one of the worst.

"And if there aren't enough rentals, then landlords know that tenants are desperate and they'll hike rents accordingly. And that's what you're seeing play out."

The country’s inability to build affordable and public housing was "disgraceful".

"The government has just completely taken its hands off the wheel when it comes to housing and we are seeing the results of that," he said.

Ms Alley said if Santana Minerals was successful in its bid to build a gold mine at Bendigo, near Cromwell, the subsequent need for accommodation for workers could place "potentially substantial pressure" on an already pressured rental market.

"It depends on where they locate their workforce ... I anticipate any new large-scale employer to town would find it difficult to house their teams."

The council had "freed up" a large amount of land for development and was processing consents as fast as possible, she said.

It had recently hosted an in-person session for developers for both land and building companies to talk through where the pressure points were for council in terms of consenting, and how they could all help each other to get things moving quickly.

"It's definitely not a single solution to the challenges that we're facing in housing, but I think working together is working smarter."

She said she expected rental prices to climb for her district, as people became more aware of its great properties.

"While the unaffordability of housing and the limited amount of rentals is not unique to Central Otago, or even unique to New Zealand, I think that we've only seen this going in one direction."

Central Otago was now an "open secret" for out-of-towners when it came to liveability aspects such as the environment, she said.

Realestate.co.nz is the official website of the New Zealand real estate industry.