Wellington Tenants Sinking in Government-Caused Rent Crisis

Responding to news that the median weekly rent has risen yet another 6.7% this year in Wellington, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Rents are spiralling because there aren’t enough rental properties to go around, it really is as simple as that. More tenants are competing for less spaces, and so rent continues to rise uncontrollably.

“This crisis has only been worsened by the previous Government's war on landlords that has simply made it too expensive and bureaucratic to build or rent out housing. The only way to ease the city’s rental crisis is to increase supply, and that cannot happen under our cripplingly restrictive resource management regime. National’s commitment to scrap the Natural and Built Environment Act is a small start, but it’s a drop in the ocean compared to the major RMA reform needed to get New Zealand building again.

"Advocates of even more regulation miss the point as further red tape will only reduce supply and make rent more expensive. Making it cheaper and easier to build more houses will force landlords to compete for tenants, driving down weekly rents and encouraging a higher standard of accommodation for all."