The national median weekly rent jumped seven per cent year-on-year to reach $575 in March.

This matches the record-high annual inflation growth in Q1 reported by the Reserve Bank last week, according to Trade Me's latest March Rental Price Index.

Trade Me property sales director Gavin Lloyd says this will be hard news for renters, who are already feeling the impact of inflation seeing an all-time high increase of 6.9 per cent in the quarter ending March 31.

"It's not an easy time to be a renter as Kiwis are having to fork out significantly more for everyday items across the board, including housing costs."

Lloyd says the Bay of Plenty had a standout month with the median weekly rent growing by nine per cent year-on-year to reach $600 for the first time on record.

"The Manawatu/Whanganui median weekly rent also fell into a new bracket at $500 for the first time marking a whopping 14 per cent year-on-year increase.

"The only other region to see a record in March was Waikato, where the median weekly rent reached $520, up seven per cent year-on-year."

Lloyd says the largest growth in median weekly rent was seen in the Taranaki region where It grew by a whopping 18 per cent year-on-year to reach $530 in March.

Looking at month-on-month data, Lloyd says when compared with February, the national median weekly rent saw no change in March.

"Tenants will be somewhat relieved to hear that more recently rents have remained stagnant. However, time will tell whether this continues as we head into the cooler months."

Both supply and demand slow down

Nationwide, rental market supply dropped by 6 per cent last month when compared with March 2021.

"The majority of regions saw less rental listings last month than in March last year, with the biggest drops seen in Nelson/Tasman (down 39 per cent), Canterbury (down 33%), and Otago (down 23 per cent)."

Notably, Lloyd says our two main centres flouted this trend, with both Wellington (up seven per cent) and Auckland (up two per cent) seeing a year-on-year increase in supply.

"The Manawatu/Whanganui region was the only other spot where supply increased in March, up eight per cent year-on-year."

However, Lloyd says the number of rental listings saw a jump when compared with the previous month.

"Month-on-month, the number of rentals available onsite increases by five per cent last month."

There were also fewer prospective tenants last month when compared with March 2021, with nationwide demand for rentals falling by seven per cent year-on-year.

"Further, if we look at the month prior, we saw a three per cent drop in rental demand in March when compared with February."