Population growth from migration has hit another record high for the 20th month in a row, with a net gain 67,619 people from migration in the year to March.
Statistics NZ said the record gain in migration was driven by an increase in arrivals, with 124,100 people coming to this country on a permanent or long term basis in the year to March, up by 10,300 (9%) compared to the previous 12 month period.
New Zealand citizens returning to this country after an extended absence accounted for one quarter of those arrivals.
By comparison, 56,400 people left this country on a long term basis in the year to March which was down by 1100 (2%) compared to the previous 12 months.
The biggest source countries for people migrating to NZ, whether they were new migrants or returning NZ citizens, were Australia with 25,767 people arriving from that country in the 12 months to March, followed by India 13,486 which was almost level pegging with the UK 13,445, followed by China and Hong Kong 12,743, the Philippines 5476, the US 4326 and Germany 4033.
The biggest destination countries for people leaving this country on a long term basis were Australia 23,905, the UK 9775, the US 3247 and China and Hong Kong 2462.
The country providing the biggest net gain (arrivals minus departures) in migrants for the year to March was India, with arrivals from that country outnumbering departures by 12,264, followed by China and Hong Kong 10,282, The Philippines 5175, the UK 3670, France 3106, Germany 3063 and South Africa 2532.
This country had a loss of 3569 New Zealand citizens in the year to March and a gain of 71,188 citizens of other countries.
Auckland continues to be the main destination for new arrivals and its population would have increased by at least 31,230 due to migration n the year to March, although the actual increase is likely to have been much greater because another 15,501 migrants did not state which part of the country they intended to live in and many of those would also have settled in Auckland.
That could have pushed Auckland's population growth from migration up towards 40,000 in the year to March, increasing the region's housing shortage and putting further strain on infrastructure services such as transport.
Net long term migration
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38 Comments
This is very misleading. PLT migrants are not "residents" This includes work and student visas as well as returning NZers.
For example, of the number reported 38K were work visas (includes working holidays) and 28K were student visas.
Resident visas were 14K. Still high, but nowhere near 120K media is reporting
http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/population/Migration/IntTrave…
Yep, Len Brown loves to quote the growth figures in order to justify his (our) train tunnel expenditure. Unfortunately the govt has now joined in, so its likely to go ahead. But there is always the chance that a credit crunch will come sometime within the projects construction phase and that it may become an unfinished white elephant.
Nice to have, sure.
But it only benefits a very small proportion of the travelling public. No benefit whatsoever for East Auckland, North Auckland, Airport/ Mangere etc.
And the cost of it is huge. Almost as much as a council managed IT project.
It has resulted in a huge number of other more effective projects being pulled from the budget for the foreseeable future.
It is the number one reason why the Ak council rates has skyrocketed.
Yeah I think so. I'm 40 y.o. and know plenty of people my age or a bit younger who are moving out of Auckland this year, or looking to do it in the next 2-3 years. Mainly to places like Tauranga, Hamilton, and Napier. I don't think Auckland will grow quite as much as many people think. The housing costs are starting to become a big deterrent.
Personally I'm a total city boy so couldn't live in NZ except for Auckland. We are looking to buy a 2 bedroom townhouse in the next 1-2 years.
Said it before. For a number of years now net internal migration within New Zealand is out of Auckland. More choose to move out that move in. (a fair few in each direction actually, but more out).
Auckland still grows, but that's only because of huge overseas immigration.
What does it say about a place with such magnificent natural features, that locals are moving away. Government ineptness provides all sorts of the wrong economic drivers.
Would be interesting to see someone work out what effect migration numbers have on house prices in Auckland. I know that's a difficult task!
For me, every record migration result = yet another leap in my property portfolio value. It's getting embarrassing. I'm on a good income but there's no way I can make more than my houses do each year!!
Even then only for as long as it takes you to buy again in the same inflated market.
Unless you cash up and move somewhere cheap. Like North Korea for example. Almost no external debt. Almost no carbon emissions. No traffic jams to speak of. Long term sustainable agricultural practices. Close to zero light pollution. Their economy isn't really oil dependant either.
My uncle was in Spain in the same situation from 2002 to 2007. He used to look at his "portfolio" and think, today I am 1.000 euro richer than yesterday..
After the bubble burst he found himself asset "rich" but cash poor. He still has most of the houses, he had to sell a few for far less than what they were worth in 2002 just to free some cash. He wasn't that happy then.
Luckily he was not living a fancy life and adapting to the new situation hasn't been much of a problem for him as he didn't self-leverage to buy silly things like some other did.
He will have to sell the other properties (if he can, because banks are not generous anymore since they suffer a big hit in their over-leveraged accounts) and materialize the losses if he needs further cash.
Enjoy the feeling of being richer, because it's just that, a feeling. Until you don't cash out, your wealth is only on the paper. Taxes and rates are real though, and the more people has to spend on rents, the less they will spend in productive economy.
Who knows, maybe your salary will also decrease with time.
Good luck exiting on time and making the right leverage decisions.
Boom-town yup its coming
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-04-20/shaking-continues-most-dangero…
The other option is to diversify so investments aren't in one region, one country and only property. It's possible to have other investments, including ones generating income. That helps move away from cash poor asset rich. Of course that doesn't have the potential gains or risk of betting everything on the housing market. The casino has large potential gains with high risk and the results are more liquid that property.
Just what we need according to Bill English, don't you know that there's a massive shortage of workers and, besides, Kiwis are pretty much useless, lazy, drugged out no hopers.
Hang on, whats this - unemployment on the up with more on the job seeker benefit up and down the country:
"The biggest increases after Canterbury were in Taranaki (up 12 per cent) and the West Coast (up 9.7 per cent), which have both been hit by the double whammy of lower dairy prices and plunging markets for natural gas and coal.
Jobseekers have also increased in Gisborne (up 9.4 per cent), Waikato (up 7.8 per cent), Marlborough (up 1.4 per cent), Wellington (up 0.9 per cent), Tasman (up 0.8 per cent) and Manawatu-Whanganui (up 0.5 per cent)."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=116…
The rise in Canterbury unemployment is / was predicable. The rebuild at some point was going to end or slow down and unemployment would rise (unless people move to other areas where there is construction work - I am making an assumption that those laid off are in the construction trade - there may not be work here in Christchurch for them). The main point I am making is that it was predictable. But what next....
Sam,
Do you have any suggestions about how to have a responsive building industry.
Houses take 6 months to build and consents and design maybe the same.
Subdivision is measured in years.
But imigration surges occur in six months.
I ve proposed immigration ballots and Im open to criticism..
NZ offers one of the fastest paths to permanent residency of any country that I am aware of. And after 10 years you can have pension for life. In the meantime, free or heavily subsidised healthcare, social welfare safety net. Did you know that English language lessons are free, plus you can get a student allowance while studying? I don't know why you are surprised, sounds like an absolutely amazing deal to me. I see this as a very generous gift from the people of NZ to immigrants. If another country were to offer me a similar deal i would certainly consider it.
Also people don't comprehend the sheer size of migration. What we get in New Zealand is just a drop in the bucket. Europe can expect two million illegal migrants this year alone. It looks like it is just going to intensify.
There actually aren't that many good countries like NZ. We would be in the top ten.
Yet their Govts recklessly continue with this ridiculous policy. Coming to a country near you soon. It scares me. One particular type of immigration attached to a religion rooted in the stone age in particular. Not seeing this problem around the world and inviting it in is absolutely nuts.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/79246138/akbabas-turkis…
One wonders what the original immigration circumstances were for these 'business' owners.
Why do NZ businesses receive cash injections from overseas visitors?
How common is this practice?
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