Aucklanders leaving in droves

[MotherBear]

Aucklanders flee to the provinces
By KIM KNIGHT - Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 15 April 2007

Go south, young man. Or north. Anywhere, in fact, apart from Auckland.

It may be our biggest city, but locals are leaving in droves. In the latest census, the Auckland region recorded the largest net loss of people due to internal migration.

Between 2001 and last year, about 59,000 people moved to the city from other regions - and 76,000 Aucklanders left for the provinces.

It's the reverse of census trends recorded a decade ago, when the city was still gaining internal migrants. Between 1991 and 1996, Auckland won almost 5000 more people from other regions than it lost. But by 2001, the slide had started and the city recorded a net loss of nearly 2400 people to other regions. But now the trickle has turned into a flood of almost 17,000 people. Waikato, with a net gain of 5847 Aucklanders, is the main recipient. Other near neighbours, Bay of Plenty and Northland, scored 3420 each.

"It could be the overflow factor," says Mansoor Khawaja, Statistics New Zealand's principal demographer. "Hamilton is really not very far. There are people who can, probably, if they are brave enough, travel every day. And the housing is better, less expensive."

More here .

[Glenda]

They have omitted (or perhaps did not even survey) the ages of those leaving Auckland.

From what I understand, it is generally thought that many of those people leaving are reaching retirement age, or already retired, and find Auckland far too big and 'not like it used to be'.

[KiwiHopeful]

It's funny. You could change the work 'Auckland' to Boston and 'Hamilton' to New Hamsphire and run the story in our paper.

People are taking advantage of the gains their property value has made, selling, and buying bigger up here. Of course, that has driven up property values in my area to the point that if we sold our house, we'd be hard-pressed to find an affordable 'move up.' If we hadn't bought 7 years ago, we certainly wouldn't be able to afford our house at its current value.

I'm hoping we don't find too much of a repeat in NZ, since here people are willing to drive an hour to commute to Boston, and anything within an hour from the city (and especially near the highway) is costs through the nose.

[MotherBear]

Jafas on a roll south for Hamilton sweet life
By WARWICK RASMUSSEN - Waikato Times | Monday, 16 April 2007

Waikato has been put on Jafa alert as latest Census figures reveal that a combination of push and pull factors brought more than 5800 Aucklanders south of the Bombay Hills between 2001 and 2006.

High property prices, transport problems and a hectic quality of life are being blamed for Auckland having a net internal migration loss of 76,000 people in that time. Waikato, and Hamilton in particular, was the largest recipient.

Real Estate Institute of New Zealand national president Murray Cleland said a combination of better housing prices, traffic, schooling, employment and lifestyle was drawing people to the region.

Mr Cleland said Aucklanders found the region attractive because they got better value for money when it came to housing.

Hamilton City Council spokesman Philip Burton said the figures confirmed trends that the council had already been noticing. "It's something anecdotally that we have been aware of for some time."

However there is no chance of Auckland losing its status as New Zealand's biggest city.

It still recorded a high natural increase of 65,500 more births than deaths in the past five years.

From here .

[Debd]

Well it certainly doesn't feel like they're leaving in droves around here, ha!