Thousands of Aucklanders are moving to Canterbury - here’s what they really think of it

Sunday, 4 January 2026

_This article _was first published in October 2025, and has been republished for summer reading.__

It is, its supporters say, the place to be.

Christchurch, with its cheaper housing, space to spread and proximity to natural splendour, is having something of a moment.

As recently as last weekend, Stuff reported on the city’s success, as Auckland and Wellington’s CBDs languished against a backdrop of economic uncertainty.

The feel good vibe was certainly drawing new arrivals. Between the 2018 and 2023 censuses, 34,440 people moved from Auckland to the South Island, with just under 20,000 going the other way.

Of those shifting south, Canterbury was the destination of choice for half of them. Stuff wanted to know if they’d had happy landings - or buyer’s remorse.

We couldn’t speak to all 17-odd thousand, but we caught up with three families who’d made the move. And this is what they said.

‘I have no wish to move back’

Ali Shahbaz, 40, moved his family to Canterbury in 2022, when the price of their rental on Auckland’s North Shore hit $750 a week.

Shahbaz started looking for jobs in Christchurch before they shifted, but ended up taking a redundancy offer instead and made the move with his family anyway.

“I loved it when I came here,” he said.

Shahbaz got a job at the University of Canterbury within a month of moving and, after a year of renting, was able to buy a new house in Rolleston, 30 minutes drive from central Christchurch.

“It’s a three-bedroom, one-bathroom, one-toilet house on 400m2 of land. That money would have got me a one-bedroom apartment in Auckland,” Shahbaz said.

He and his partner have three young children. Shahbaz said there was less traffic and it was safer for them to bike to school. He thought the schools were better and the university “had everything”. He enjoyed being able to reach a skifield in 90 minutes.

“People were a bit biased about Christchurch,” he said. “They talked about the earthquakes and the weather but I find it better because it’s much drier than Auckland. In Auckland it rains every day and the houses are damp.

“I have no wish to move back.”

Shahbaz said there were fewer immigrants in Christchurch than in Auckland, and being Muslim, that meant there were fewer places to eat halal food out.

But that was a small price to pay for what he described as a “much better” life.

“I don’t see any sense in staying in Auckland,” he said. “The money that you earn, you just pay in rent.”

‘You think, what did we just do?’

Lizl Geyser, 50, also moved her family to Canterbury in the hopes of affording a house, a dream that felt out of reach in Auckland.

“We’d had friends who were moving out of Auckland, going to the South Island. So it’d always been in the back of our minds.”

But when she arrived in January 2023, she said it wasn’t the promised “land of milk and honey”.

Geyser said people in Canterbury weren’t as welcoming as those in Auckland and she had struggled to make connections.

The move between islands had been more difficult than the one she’d made from South Africa to New Zealand, Geyser said.

“I just couldn’t believe how different it was, it felt like I immigrated all over again.”

Her family settled in Lincoln, but Geyser said she was “miserable” and trying to co-ordinate a move back to Auckland.

“The sad part is we finally bought the house that we so wanted. It was a chase for us for 15 years to get the deposit together.

“Now I have this house and I go, was this all worth it? And I’m not convinced that it was.”

Geyser appreciated many things about Christchurch’s “beautiful” city centre, and the surrounding landscapes, but “didn’t feel like people were as welcoming”.

“I think because Auckland is so inundated with so many diverse people, it’s become quite cosmopolitan.”

Geyser said she struggled with the colder temperatures in Canterbury and the winters felt longer.

She also felt there was less for her kids to do.

Geyser wondered if she would be happier if they lived closer to the city.

“We had a couple of acquaintances point us in this direction, and we had teenagers that had to start school so we had to make a quick decision.

“You rely on some people telling you something, then you come down for one quick visit and go ‘this looks good’. And afterwards you think, ‘what did we just do?’.

“I’ve come to realise I actually did enjoy Auckland and where we lived and I want that back.”

‘It’s got its own rhythm’

Alison Van Minnen, 37, her husband Andrew, and their three kids shifted from Auckland to Christchurch in January 2024.

“We were craving a bit of a reset, a slower pace, more space for the kids and a better balance overall.

“Christchurch offered us a fresh start without losing that big city feel.”

They bought a house in Bryndwr, halfway between Christchurch airport and the CBD, in December, and had “found a nice rhythm”.

“The lifestyle is amazing. The kids are thriving in school, and we love how easy it is to get outdoors.

“Housing is so much more affordable, and the traffic is worlds better. We can actually get across town without needing to plan our day around it,” she said.

She missed her friends in Auckland, and the job market could be tougher in Christchurch, but there were “plenty of opportunities if you’re flexible and open-minded”.

Van Minnen said she preferred the weather in Christchurch too, as she hadn’t enjoyed Auckland’s humidity.

Although Christchurch had longer winters, she said they “aren’t as bad as people make it out to be.”

Van Minnen said people considering the move should “go for it” but be ready for a change of pace.

“Christchurch is really coming into its own, especially with all the new developments and growth after the earthquakes. There’s so much possibility here.”

“It’s not a smaller Auckland, it’s its own city with its own rhythm.

‘It’s a lifestyle choice’

Harcourts agent Jonny Nicholls said his team was selling around 25% of homes to out-of-town buyers, “predominantly Aucklanders”.

He had sold a house to an Auckland buyer last week and asked them, why Christchurch?

“They indicated all their friends and family are in Auckland but it was a lifestyle choice.

“They sold up there, purchased here for half the price. [The buyer] said to me, ‘Christchurch is the best city in the country, where can you get from the airport, for a surf, to the mountain bike park, for a ski and back to the airport in one day?’

“Financially it makes more sense, and from a lifestyle point of view it makes more sense.”