Data from property website realestate.co.nz shows the average weekly rent in Queenstown Lakes-Central Otago last month was $891, up 11.8% on December 2024.
That compares to the national average rent, which fell 2.4% year on year to $626 a week.
Realestate.co.nz spokeswoman Vanessa Williams said the region continued to sit in a "league of its own", with strong demand and limited housing stock pushing rents to record highs.
"First-home buyers made up 19% of all property purchases in Queenstown last year.
"When weekly rental prices start closing in on mortgage repayments, it’s no surprise renters are making the leap into home ownership."
In contrast, the website’s national rental report for December showed 13 of the country’s 19 regions experienced declines in average rents over the past 12 months.
That was driven by a significant rise in rental accommodation nationwide, with new listings increasing 19.8% to 5349 year on year, and the total stock of rental units rising 15.9% to 7577.
The data showed the rental market looked very different depending on location, Ms Williams said.
An abundance of rental stock nationwide was "giving renters breathing room", but the Queenstown Lakes-Central Otago region was a reminder that lifestyle markets operated differently.
The region’s total stock of rental units listed on the property website in December was down 8.1% year on year, despite the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago districts consenting many more new dwellings than the national average.
Arrowtown-based economist Benje Patterson told Allied Media last month the Queenstown Lakes district consented 33.7 new builds per 1000 residents in the year to September, which was almost five times the national average and nearly twice as many as second placegetter, Selwyn, which had 18.
The Central Otago district was fourth, consenting 11.9 new builds per 1000 residents.
Queenstown Lakes had been the country’s "champion of homebuilding" for the past five years, with an average of 1350 new dwellings consented a year, Mr Patterson said.
That was being driven by the "insatiable demand" of people moving to the area — nearly 10,000 new residents had arrived in the district since 2019.
He estimated the district’s resident population would rise by between 4000 and 5000 over the next 18 months.
