Auckland rents rose nearly 3 per cent annually, having exceeded $600/week average in April, with some areas becoming more pricey than others.

New data out from Barfoot & Thompson which manages more than 16,500 properties, showed a new $605/week average rent at the end of June.

The biggest rent rise in the last year was south Auckland, up 4.8 per cent to reach an average $554/week.

West Auckland rents rose the second-fastest at 4.2 per cent annually to reach $560/week, followed by Rodney at 4.1 per cent annually to reach $607/week.

Kiri Barfoot, a director of the agency, said increases had mostly hovered around 2 and 3 per cent annually for the past several years, except when the Government froze rents last year.

Rents were hardly moving, she indicated.

"June's figure represents a 0.3 per cent increase on May's average, or around $2 more per week," she said.

Annually, Auckland rents across all suburbs rose 2.9 per cent, which was only around $17 more a week, Barfoot said.

Rental changes. Source: Barfoot & Thompson

"However, what has altered over time are the drivers behind the changes, which can cycle between housing types, sizes, and locations and depend on multiple factors.

"Over the past couple of quarters rents in some of the higher-priced areas, like the Eastern Suburbs and now the North Shore, have become more static, while the lower-priced areas of South Auckland, West Auckland and Rodney are now rising more quickly.

"For example, Rodney has seen significant migration and development recently. Just two years ago it was seeing relatively little movement, under 2 per cent, but is now well over double that rate," she said.

South and west rents had risen at a greater rate than other areas but they remain the lowest-priced regions of the city behind rural Manukau/Franklin, she said.

The typical three-bedroom rental property remains the most popular and available option and has also experienced slightly higher than average weekly rent increases at 3.6 per cent, she said.

Last month, the Herald found relentless rent rises throughout New Zealand.

Auckland edges Wellington as the most expensive city in New Zealand for tenants but rents in the capital have risen more in real terms since 2000, that found.

The trends are visible in a Herald interactive graphic, which uses official Government data adjusted for inflation to track 21 years of rent increases in our most expensive cities.

In early 2000, Auckland's average residential rent was $250/week, according to figures from Tenancy Services, part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. Adjusted for inflation, this comes to $388 per week in 2021 dollars.

Today Auckland's average residential rent is $564 per week, which represents a 45 per cent increase in real terms.

Auckland and Wellington suburbs typically have higher rents than the rest of the country. Few suburbs in Christchurch, for example, have average rents over $500 per week, that story found.

No suburb in Queenstown currently has rents over $700 per week, although Kelvin Heights, Warren Park and Lake Hayes exceeded this level in 2019 before Covid struck.

Outside Auckland and Wellington, Tauranga is the area with the most rapidly rising rental prices, but again no suburbs average more than $700 per week.

Renters United has launched a campaign for rent controls, saying the Government must intervene to help society's most vulnerable.

Every tenant has the right to live in a safe, healthy home, pay affordable rent and find a place without discrimination, that organisation says.