Population growth from migration continued to slow in February, with a net gain of 7405 for the month, down from 8609 in February last year and 8581 in February 2016, according to Statistics NZ.
In the 12 months ended February there was a net gain gain of 68,333 people compared to 71,333 in the 12 months to February last year and 67,391 in the 12 months to February 2016.
Statistics NZ said net migration hit its annual peak in the 12 months to July 2017, and the latest figures were the first time annual net migration had gone below 69,000 since May 2016.
However the strong migration gains are still extremely high by historical standards and have increased dramatically over the last five years, rising from a net gain of just 1195 in the 12 months February 2013 to 68,333 in the 12 months to February this year.
Statistics NZ said the downturn over the last 12 months had mainly been caused by an increase in departures of non-New Zealand citizens, with 29,100 leaving in the 12 months to February, up 22% from the previous 12 months.
However this was still a net loss of 813 New Zealand citizens in the 12 months to February, as more New Zealanders left the country long term than arrived back after an extended stay overseas, while there was a net gain 69,756 of non-New Zealand citizens over the same period.
In a note on the figures Westpac economist Satish Ranchhod said the net gain was expected to keep falling.
"We expect that migration will continue to ease back over the next few years," he said.
"Much of the increase in migration in recent years was due to people arriving on temporary work and student visas.
"We are now seeing many of these earlier arrivals departing.
"We expect that this will continue for some time yet."
The biggest source countries were China (including Hong Kong) with a net gain of 9297 form that country in the 12 months to February, followed by India 6905, the UK 5916, South Africa 4910 and the Philippines 4756.
Of the 130,966 people who arrived in the country for more than 12 months in the year to February, 46,183 were on work visas (up 7.3% on the previous 12 months), 38,684 were New Zealand or Australian citizens (+1.6%), 23,960 were on student visas (+0.5%) and 14,841 were on residency visas.
The figures also show that Auckland remain the destination of choice for migrants, with a documented net gain of 34,928 in the Auckland region in the 12 months to February.
On top of that there was also more than 11,000 migrants who did not state where they intended to live when they arrived, which means the total net gain to Auckland's population in the year to the end of February was probably more than 40,000 people, which means pressures on Auckland's infrastructure such as housing, transport and social services is continuing to increase at a substantial rate.
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