Results from the 2013 Census show the largest movement of Aucklanders is to Waikato while Cantabrians tend to relocate to Otago.
The figures, which were released today, also show fewer people have moved house in the last five years, with almost half the population (49.4 per cent) still living at the same address as in 2008. This is an increase from 41.1 percent in 2006.
The good news for New Zealand’s chronic housing shortage is that the number of dwellings rose to more than 1.7 million, however, at the same time the number of unoccupied dwellings increased sharply, up more than 26,000 (16.4 percent) since 2006.
“Almost 40 percent of this increase was in Canterbury, probably because of people leaving their dwellings after the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes,” Government Statistician Liz MacPherson said.
Other key findings from the 2013 Census include:
- The rate of home ownership fell to just under 65 percent
- Just over 56 per cent of home owners have a mortgage
- There was an increase in people renting their properties
- More people from Waikato moved to Auckland in the past five years than from other parts of the country
- When Aucklanders move out of the area, they mostly move to Waikato (15,673 people), then Northland, then the Bay of Plenty
- More than 9000 Wellingtonians moved to Auckland in the last 5 years, just slightly more than Cantabrians
- More people in Otago moved to Canterbury in the previous five years than from anywhere else
- As well as Otago and Auckland, many Cantabrians also relocated to Wellington in the last 5 years
- People who lived overseas five years ago and moved to New Zealand by the 2013 Census were most likely to be living in the Auckland region (46.3 percent)
- There were 32,508 people living in the Canterbury region who lived overseas five years ago.
The Census figures come as no surprise to Grace Removals who move thousands of New Zealanders across the country every year. With branches in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, Grace is often booked up with regional moves.
