Regional Rental Review: Whakatāne District

Exploring the Rental Market in the Whakatāne District

Whakatāne District sits in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, anchored by the town of Whakatāne and the coastal settlement of Ōhope, with inland communities like Murupara and Tāneatua serving farming, forestry and horticulture on the Rangitāiki Plains and into Te Urewera. Recent population estimates put the district around 38,400 (June 2025), with Council highlighting ~37,150 at the 2023 Census. It’s a district known for sunshine hours, beaches, forestry, dairying and growing aquaculture/tourism.

What is happening with rents

Median rent is sitting around $580 pw as at November 2025. That’s $30 (-4.9%) lower than November 2024, after peaking late last year and easing in early/mid‑2025 before stabilising into spring.  

Rents have caught up with the median rent in New Zealand. In November 2025, the median rent was $599 per week. That is a $19 variance. Go back to November 2020, the variance was $105. Whakātane median rent back then was $385 per week compared to $490 per week nationwide. 

What is happening with bonds?

Bond activity averaged 51 lodgements and 47 closures per month, a modest net +54 bonds over 12 months, ending November 2025, a slow expansion in private rental activity. 

Active bonds (a proxy for private rental stock) lifted from 1,854 (Dec 2024) to 1,908 (Nov 2025), up +2.9% year-on-year. 

The graph above shows that rental stock declined from a peak of 2001 bonds lodged in October 2015 to 1,728 in January 2023. Since then, bonds lodged has increased. 

We partner with Valocity to measure market rents and yields. 230 properties analysed showed median rents in our portfolio at $550 per week with automated valuations of properties managed coming in at a median value of $692,821.  

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