Nationally, the number of rental properties available rose in April.
However, the realestate.co.nz data tells a different story for Oamaru.
Data supplied to the Oamaru Mail shows the average rent is $476 a week.
That is up 15.7% year-on-year, while listings fell 6.7%, with just 14 new listings last month.
As to be expected, there is always a region that bucks the trend. Central Otago and Lakes reported an all-time high with an average rental price of $870 per week in April, a 3.0% increase year-on-year.
That places Oamaru in the same trend-bucking bracket as the Central Otago and Lakes region, which reported an all-time high with an average rental price of $870 per week in April, a 3% increase year-on year.
Across the wider Otago region, rents were up just 1.2% to $528, while there was a 0.2% drop in Canterbury, where the average rent is $581.
"I found it really fascinating about how much your new listings had dropped year-on-year," realestate.co.nz spokeswoman Vanessa Williams told the Oamaru Mail.
"I think probably most interestingly was your year-on-year increase in terms of the average rental rate. . . . I wonder if that is because you are a lower price-bracket region."
The reason for the rent increase in Oamaru was probably because regional New Zealand did not experience the same market saturation as major centres did during the Covid-19 pandemic.
That market, particularly in Auckland became saturated and unsustainable, Ms Williams said.
