Kim Cooper, left, with her children Sharna, 17, Dillon, 14 and Bradley, sitting on step, 11. Their dog Lulu is also pictured.

Kim Cooper gave up the Auckland rat race so she could achieve her dream of owning her own home.

The single mum and her three children were living in Ranui, west Auckland, and barely affording the rent payments when they took the plunge to move south to Invercargill.

"You have to do what is right for yourself and not for your friends," she says.

"My friends all owned houses and had partners and I was going to be starting over. But it was the right thing to do.

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"The long-term gain has been worth it for me."

The 38-year-old's rent in Ranui went from $350 to $410 in two years.

Even though she was working part-time to support her family all the money was sucked up each week, she says.

Cooper ended up moving in with her father, paying $370 a week in rent.

But then she made the decision to move to Invercargill in March 2014, renting a four-bedroom house with two heat pumps, HRV system and a fireplace for $250 a week.

That enabled Cooper to save about $150 a week. In September last year she bought a house for $105,000 with a 10 per cent deposit. The property is 1000 square metres and the house is about 140 sqm.

Cooper now pays $123 a week for her mortgage and there are no water rates.

"The hardest part was leaving my friends and family up in Auckland, but we've been back about six times in the past two years," she says.

The 2013 census showed home ownership rates in west Auckland dropped three per cent since 2006, with 65 per cent of houses filled with owner-occupiers. The drop is 50 per cent higher than the national average.

Titirangi has the most owner-occupiers in west Auckland at 87 per cent of homes in the suburb, according to Census data.

The biggest drop in home ownership between 2006 and 2013 occurred in Birdwood west, with a fall of 14 per cent to 77 per cent owner-occupiers.

The lowest home ownership rate is in the area around the Lynn Mall, at 41 per cent.

Te Atatu MP Phil Twyford says the change is not good for the community.

"West Auckland has always been a place where people came to get a start in life, because homes were affordable. But now first home buyers are getting hammered. Home ownership rates are falling and in many neighbourhoods more and more homes are rentals."

Figures released by a government agency shows west Auckland is still a reasonably priced area to rent compared to other Auckland areas.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Tenancy Services data from the first six months of 2016 shows bonds lodged and average rental prices in Auckland suburbs.

The median rental price in west Auckland suburbs ranges from $420 to $480, with the lowest priced suburb being Kelston and the highest Avondale.

Henderson had the highest number of bonds signed in the past six months with 332 signed.

It also was the only west Auckland suburb to note bonds signed for one-bedroom boarding house rentals.

The suburb of Blockhouse Bay fetched some of the highest prices out west with some rentals going for more than $580. The hot suburb of New Lynn saw three-bedroom homes costing a median price of $495 per week to rent.​