Annual rental price index update for September
Published 17 Oct 25
While Stats NZ’s Rental Price Index remains on pause, we’re continuing to provide insights through our own rental price index.
Rental Price Inflation is still negative in Auckland and Wellington but has risen in Canterbury.
How are rents for new tenancies tracking?
- Nationwide rents for new tenancies in September 2025 are sitting down 0.4% compared to the previous year for the third month running.Wellington continues to show the sharpest decline, with rents down 6.4% year-on-year.
- Auckland seems to have stabilised over the past couple of months, after a steady trend of declining rental inflation with rents for new tenancies remaining 0.6% lower compared to the previous year for the second month running.
- Whilst rental inflation in Canterbury has been trending down over the past year, September showed a rebound to 2.1%, although the monthly growth has been slow and steady, so this increase more likely reflects volatility in the series 12 months ago.
These decreases reflect the combination of reduced demand from easing net migration and increased housing stock from the high level of completions in recent years.
Over time we expect that supply and demand will become more balanced in most places, and rental inflation return to its longer-term trends which tend to mirror the rate of wage growth.
