Would you pay $30k up front to secure a rental?

• Published date: 08 May 2021
• Publication title: Daily Post, The (Rotorua, New Zealand)

The former Wellingtonian, who did not want to be named, moved for work and put an ad on Trade Me offering to pay a year upfront for a house he had missed out on — and it was taken down within an hour of being listed.

However, his offer attracted a flurry of replies from interested landlords.

“I said I’ll pay a year in advance: That is the power of cash.”

He had been holed up in motels while searching for a home.

“I was getting frustrated, it was a difficult time for me emotionally. Now I love my place, which is close to the beach.”

It is just one of the bold moves people are making as competition for homes heats up.

Others are facing heartbreak, homelessness, and financial hardship as the rental crisis deepens in the Bay of Plenty’s cities, Rotorua and Tauranga.

The latest data from Trade Me reveals median rents in Tauranga jumped $8140 between March 2016 and March 2021, or from $440 a week to $595.

In Rotorua, it increased by $9880, or from $300 to $490 a week, in the same period.

Throughout the Bay, the Government spent $2.9 million a week on accommodation supplements in the last quarter of the financial year.

Tauranga Rentals owner Dan Lusby said one of his landlords was offered six months in advance — $21,600 — and took it.

Some tenants were also offering more than the advertised rent and...