Wellington City Council has released a report – Wellington City Rates Affordability Research – commissioned from Infometrics to provide a comparison of rates affordability against a sample of 10 New Zealand cities.

The report was commissioned to support decision-making for the 2027-37 Long term Plan and budget.

Residential rates affordability is measured by looking at rates as a share of household income. This is a common measure for rates affordability.

Previous New Zealand-based research (the Shand report) has suggested that rates are unaffordable when they exceed 5 percent of household income.

Commercial rates affordability has been measured by looking at rates as a share of capital value.

While the report benchmarked rates affordability against other councils,it didn’t compare the level or type of services funded by rates across councils.

The report found Wellington City Council’s rates bill has in recent years been among the highest and least affordable in the sample group.

This reflects what Wellingtonians have been saying through consultation feedback in recent times – rates are high, households are under financial pressure, and the high rates rises are unsustainable.

Key findings from the report include:

• Wellington City Council’s residential rates have more than doubled since 2012, when rates accounted for 2.2 percent of household income.
• In 2025, rates as a percentage of household income varied from 2.3 percent (Wellington Central) to 7.5 percent (Oriental Bay). The average is 3.8 percent of household income.
• When compared to other cities (and including regional rates), Wellington’s rates were the most expensive (tied with Porirua). As a percentage of household incomes, our rates were 4.7 percent (also tied with Porirua, but lower than Tauranga and Dunedin (4.8 percent for each).
• Wellington’s commercial rates as a percentage of capital values were the highest in the sample of cities - analysed at 2.4 percent. Our commercial rates were also the highest as a percentage of capital values for commercial offices, CBD retail, and accommodation rating units.

“Rates affordability was identified as a key objective in the Triennium Plan. The plan also committed to improving transparency and supporting decisions with better data. The rates affordability report will support this,” says the Council’s Chief Strategy and Finance Officer, Andrea Reeves.

Ms Reeves says rates affordability is also the focus in developing the draft budget for the 2026/27 year – and the forecast rates increase of 12.7 percent was brought down to 7.4 percent while preserving the services and community facilities Wellingtonians rely on.

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