Aucklanders pay around $150 a week more to live in a three-bedroom rental than the rest of New Zealand, New Zealand Herald reports.

Apartment rental in Auckland is putting more pressure on renters as average weekly rent for a three-bedroom house has jumped $55 in a month and the rate in popular suburbs has increased by 25 per cent in the last year, according to the Herald.

Desperate renters are increasingly looking further afield than the CBD and its immediate suburbs.

Real estate agencies are unable to give renters a lot of choices in central Auckland due to the steep rent, hence, the latter explore a little bit away from the CBD in the hopes of finding a more reasonable rent according to their earnings.

Figures reported by interest.co.nz showed the median weekly price for a three-bedroom rental was now $550.

The increase developed in February, a typically very busy month as summer holidays end, and students go back to their colleges.

Still, the steep increase "easily outstrips anything seen in the month of February," according to interest.co.nz, which has been tracking the data for six years now.

Real Estate Institute chief executive Helen O'Sullivan said the rental rate is likely to become an increasing problem unless more buildings are built to meet the high demand which is fuelling the increase in rentals.

In Wellington, the median rent for a three-bedroom house rose $5 to $480, while in Christchurch, the weekly rent for a three-bedroom house is relatively consistent at $350.

In other city centres, the median rental is $300 a week in Whangarei, $330 a week in Hamilton and $320 a week in Tauranga, according to Department of Housing data.