The median asking rent for homes advertised on Trade Me Property hit a record high in March.

The national median asking rent for rental properties advertised on the website was an all time high of $420 a week in March, up 7.7% compared to $390 a week in March last year.

However there were major regional differences with the biggest rent rise occurring in Christchurch which has now overtaken Auckland as the most expensive place to rent a home in the country.

The median asking rent for Christchurch homes was $495 a week in March, up 10% compared to March last year, even though the number of homes that were advertised for rent in March was up 50% on March last year.

That makes Christchurch even more expensive than Auckland, where the median asking rent hit a new record high of $480 a week in March, up 6.7% compared to March last year.

In Christchurch the median asking rent for a 3-4 bedroom house was $560 in March compared to $550 in Auckland.

Around the rest of the country, Northland was the only region to post a double digit increase (12.5%) in median asking rent for the year, followed by Taranaki on 8.8%, Bay of Plenty 7.9% and Otago 6.7%.

In Wellington the median asking rent was up 2.5% for the year, and in Waikato it was up 3.2%.

Two regions recorded declines in median asking rents for the year, Gisborne -6.7%, and Marlborough -10%.

To read Trade me Property's full report for March, click on the following link:

Trade Me Property - Rental price index - March 2015.docx