North Island exodus fuels South Island population boom

Wednesday, 11 June 2025

Snow on the Southern Alps near Darfield in Canterbury.

More than 40,000 people have moved from the North Island to Canterbury since 2018, confirming long-held suspicions of a northern exodus to the more affordable south.

New figures from the 2023 Census, released by Stats NZ on Tuesday, show that around 86,000 people moved from the North Island to the South Island between 2018 and 2023. That was about 30,000 more people than went in the opposite direction.

Around one in 10 of the southward migrants moved from Wellington city. It means that around 4.3% of Wellington city’s 2018 population was living in the South Island by 2023.

North Islanders moving to Christchurch have one aim in common — affordability, but they’ve discovered it’s not all about the money.

“Everything is a little bit slower, no one’s in a rush, there’s … more going on,” Sam MacLeod, 28, said.

Rob and Hess Vertogen moved to North Canterbury from Auckland for a better work-life balance while also being able to afford a home within their means while raising a young family.

She and her husband, Neil MacLeod, left Wellington for Christchurch last year to save money and found many more benefits with less wind, less traffic, less rent and a lot more sun.

Hess Vertogen loved riding horses when she wasn’t working in Auckland, but to juggle raising a family with commuting, work and leisure, something had to give.

Vertogen and her husband Rob moved to Eyrewell Forest, North Canterbury, about five years ago, allowing them to raise a family and “afford doing what we love”.

People at Riverside Market in central Christchurch.

“We have a full work-life balance.

“It’s so scary to leave but when you do, it’s so freeing.”

Historic shifts

While movement between islands is nothing new, the scale of the trend marks a reversal in migration patterns, which for much of the country’s history saw more people heading north than south.

More than half of the North Island migrants — 42,765 — ended up in Canterbury, making it by far the highest recipient of inter-island movers in the country. That was nearly twice as many as Otago, which ranked second with 23,271 new residents.

Christchurch city alone absorbed more than 26,000 of these new arrivals, the highest of any council area in the country. Of those, about 40% came from Auckland and 20% from the Wellington region.

The southern shift was largely, but not exclusively, driven by younger people. In Christchurch, about 43% of new arrivals from the North Island were aged 15 to 29, a demographic often drawn by lower living costs and education opportunities.

“Housing affordability and study opportunities are likely to be strong factors for drawing so many people to Canterbury and Otago from the North Island,” 2023 Census spokesperson Dr Rosemary Goodyear said.

Tony Hilton, left, and Garry Clegg left the traffic congestion in Auckland behind to open their own business in Ashburton which has a “different mindset and approach to life”.

North Island migrants were becoming an increasingly high proportion of residents in most parts of the South Island, while South Islanders remained a small proportion virtually everywhere in the North Island.

While the data reflects the appeal of the South Island, it also suggests growing dissatisfaction with the North Island’s major cities.

Both Wellington and Auckland had a net outflow of residents to the South Island, while no council area in the South Island had a net outflow to the North Island. Both major cities had net outflows of people regardless of island.

Tony Hilton said he and his partner Garry Clegg sold up in Auckland in 2021 when they got sick of being stuck in traffic and feeling like “a rat in a wheel”.

Journalist Paddy Gower says he would “absolutely” make the move from Wellington to Christchurch - “mainly for the vibes”.

The couple travelled south in a campervan to find somewhere to start afresh when Ashburton took them by surprise.

“We were just charmed,” Hilton said.

“It’s a different mindset and approach to life; where things are still important, but not everything is always as urgent.”

He said the culture was “warmer”, people were nicer, “and we actually have seasons down here that don’t all involve rain and humidity”.

New Zealand journalist and Wellingtonian Paddy Gower recently rated Christchurch the “best city by far” and said he would “absolutely make the move, mainly for the vibes”.

But North Canterbury would be his choice to put down roots.

“Christchurch may be New Zealand’s best kept secret, but Rangiora and Kaiapoi are Canterbury’s best kept secret.

“Anywhere that’s called ‘the Goon’ I would want to move to.”

There was one barrier though he said: the Crusaders rugby union team. “They would need to reject their boring, cheating rugby style and play exciting, fair rugby.”

Migrants across the Mainland

Although Canterbury benefited the most from southward migration, all communities in Te Wai Pounamu gained more people than they lost.

Proportionally, the figures were notable in smaller communities like the Grey, Buller, and Mackenzie districts, where the inflow of North Islanders since 2018 made up between 4% and 5% of their 2023 populations.

Even the area with the narrowest gap between people moving in and moving out — Invercargill — had more arriving than leaving.

Despite its significant intake of North Islanders, Christchurch city also had correspondingly high outflows to the surrounding districts. Selwyn, the fastest growing community in the country, received 13,000 people from Christchurch.

With 3000 people moving there from Auckland, and around 2000 from elsewhere in Canterbury, Selwyn had double the number of people moving in than moving out. It was by far the highest net inflow of internal migrants of anywhere in the country.

The data comes from a census question asking where the respondent’s usual residence is, not where they happen to be on the day of the census.