The ‘Auckland refugees’ who are buying up Canterbury

Canterbury continues to be the biggest beneficiary of the “self-proclaimed Auckland refugees” who are ditching the traffic and high house prices for a better work-life balance.

More New Zealanders moved to Canterbury than any other region for the second year in a row – but perhaps surprisingly most bypassed Christchurch settling further afield in the Selwyn and Waimakariri districts.

Canterbury saw an extra 11,000 people moving to the region in the year ending June 2023 including 3000 who moved from elsewhere in New Zealand.

ChristchurchNZ economic analyst Sophie Jones said the type of migrant varied across different parts of Canterbury with Selwyn and Waimakariri attracting people from other parts of the country and Christchurch capturing people moving from overseas.

Of the 11,000 people who moved to the region, 44% had moved to Christchurch, 31% to Selwyn and 12% to Waimakariri.

With 11,000 Aucklanders leaving their city, Jones said it was expected that a significant number of them had chosen Selwyn and Waimakariri to set up home.

Ray White Rolleston business owner Brendan Shefford said they were seeing a lot of immigrants who had initially settled in Auckland now relocating to Selwyn.

People have also relocated from the Hawke’s Bay, Wellington, Waikato and Taranaki, but to a much lesser extent.

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About 50% of those moving in were from the North Island and had been transferred down for work, he said.

In Selwyn, Rolleston had seen the biggest growth in out-of-towners, followed by Lincoln and Farringdon, according to figures from ChristchurchNZ.

Shefford said Rolleston still offered better value for money than Auckland and even Christchurch.

Those moving from Auckland could often trade their one or two-bedroom unit for a brand-new three to four-bedroom, two-bedroom freehold home in Rolleston for about $800,000.

ChristchurchNZ economic analyst Sophie Jones said a lot of Aucklanders have relocated to Selwyn and Waimakariri. Photo / Supplied

The same brand-new home would be about $900,000 in Wigram and the price crept up the closer they got to the CBD, he said. New two to three-bedroom apartments in Christchurch CBD were also priced around $700,000 and $800,000.

“You get more value for money,” he said.

“Instead of driving an hour and a half in Auckland each day or even an hour and a half, they will jump in the car, and they will be in the middle of town and parked up and in the office in 30 minutes.”

People were drawn to the district because they wanted more space and had some great new facilities such as Foster Park in Rolleston, which was the district’s largest sports and recreation park.

Ray White Metro sales manager Richard Withy said they were still seeing a flow of people moving down from the North Island.

“The ones I’ve met have not been coming here just to get a cheaper house, it’s generally because they either had a family connection, for others it’s about employment – they’ve got a job transfer and better prospects here and you combine that with the lifestyle of the Port Hills, the beach, the alps – it’s very different to the North Island, but it is seeming to be very attractive.”

Withy said last year they had a family who had self-classified themselves as “Auckland refugees” and made the move for a change in lifestyle for their young family.

A property on Westburn Terrace, in Ilam, was bought sight unseen by overseas buyers planning to relocate to Christchurch. Photo / Supplied

The more affordable housing was also a bonus and many were able to significantly lower their mortgages after making the move as they shifted from a $1.2m house in Auckland to one for about $700,000 in Christchurch.

In addition to Kiwis moving down south, he said there had also been a huge diversification in ethnicity as people arrived from overseas.

ChristchurchNZ’s own analysis of migration data supported this and showed most people settling in Christchurch were most likely moving from China, India, Philippines, Australia, the UK and South Africa.

While Hornsby, Halswell, Christchurch Central and Burwood have on paper been the Christchurch suburbs that appeared to have benefitted most from migration, agents told OneRoof they were actually buying all over the city.

In the last two months about 75% of Harcourts agents Tim Sprott and Nicky Brownlee sales’ had been to overseas buyers including property on Westburn Terrace in Fendalton that was snapped up in a competitive auction by a phone buyer in Taiwan relocating to Christchurch earlier in the year and a home in Rolleston purchased by a young Asian couple. They had also recently sold a property to a South African family.

Some were making the purchases from overseas and others had already immigrated to another part of the country before deciding they wanted the things that Canterbury offered on its doorstep like tramping and skiing, he said.

Harcourts Holmwood salesperson Zani Polson had just helped a South African family move from central North Island for the lifestyle and said they had been inspired by friends who had done the same thing.

“They were drawn to the recreational activities, hillside living, that sort of thing.

“They didn’t want to be tied to a mortgage and wanted to have a little bit more flexibility of disposable income.”

Canterbury’s popularity was driven by the lifestyle it offered and that in turn was initially putting pressure on the rental market.

“That to me is like a short-term thing, I think anyone that is moving here permanently is typically looking to really settle down and they are moving to various parts.”

CoreLogic chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said 3000 internal migrants arriving in Christchurch was "not massive". Photo / Peter Meecham

Median rental prices had grown 9.8% in Canterbury in the year ended September 2023 with the median rental price rising from $455 to $500 per week.

The shift in house prices had been less dramatic with the average house price in the three months to November showing a 2% rise in Christchurch, 3% in Selwyn and 0.9% in Waimakariri, according to CoreLogic’s House Price Index.

However, CoreLogic chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said 3000 people moving to the region “wasn’t massive” in the grand scheme of things but did support the wider narrative around Christchurch having more affordable housing and the buzz about the new CBD.

CoreLogic data showed it was still one of New Zealand’s most affordable cities in terms of house price to mortgage ratio with 43% of the household income going on paying a mortgage compared with 47% in Hamilton and 55% in Auckland. Wellington City had recently overtaken Christchurch in being more affordable.

“House prices in Wellington are higher, but it’s just incomes are so much higher that’s what makes Wellington a bit more affordable than Christchurch.”

Despite Auckland losing the largest number of residents to other parts of the country, it continued to grow by 47,000 people largely due to people moving there from overseas.

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