Govt worried over rent rises

Stuff reports:

The Government is concerned about the perception that its new housing policy will raise rents, according to an email from the Beehive which was accidentally sent to Stuff.

They are not worried about whether it will increase rents, just that people may think it does!

Campbell sought advice on six topics:

“Can we get a table rent increases year on year since been in Govt year on year compared to increase in wages and house prices [sic].

“My understanding rents have been in line with average wage growth and obviously a lot less than house price growth,” Campbell wrote.

Rents have been increasing far quicker than wages as reported below:

Rent data is notoriously difficult to collect. It’s difficult to get data on the small increases in rent landlords put onto existing tenants. The main Government measure only captures a snapshot because it records rent when a new bond is lodged. This means it doesn’t capture when a landlord puts up the rent.

Under National, the national median rent went up from $290 a week at the end of 2008 to $400 in September 2017. The national median rent is now $495 a week.

So the median rent went up $110 over nine years of National and has gone up $95 after only three years of Labour. That’s a 24% increase over three years, and you can be sure wages did not go up 24%.