Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker believes government intervention is needed to help the city's rental property crises.
Figures from auction and classifieds site Trade Me this week showed a lack of rental properties and rental price hikes.
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Parker disagreed with Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee's comments that it was not a crisis.
"I would say on an individual level yeah, it'll be a crisis for some people.... It's an issue that will get bigger and bigger and bigger unless we figure out how we're going to resolve it, and unless we get more properties onto the market," he told TV3's The Nation.
Parker did not think the government was doing enough to fix the problem.
"On rental accommodation my personal view is that we're going to have to intervene, we're going to have to do more."
Trade Me statistics showed rents in Christchurch have jumped 15 per cent compared to a year ago.
There were 40 per cent fewer properties on the market and there has been a 42 per cent increase in the number of inquiries from potential tenants.
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