Many have chosen to rent rather than buy in Auckland due to rising house prices but they haven't been able to escape the bubble as mean rent in New Zealand's biggest city passed the $500 mark for the first time this year.
Rental bond information from Tenancy Services -- mapped into interactive graphics by insights.nzherald.co.nz -- showed the city's average rent now stands at $514/week, rising from $491/week in January.
North Shore rents are the country's highest at $543/week and Auckland's rents have been rising strongly since 1993, the information showed.
In 1993, Auckland's average rent was $200/week, with the North Shore a little higher at $209/week.
With the city's rents well above the national average, the rental gap between Auckland and the rest of the country is widening.