Rental prices in Auckland are increasing faster than the rest of the country due to high demand and constrained supply.

The city is also dealing with ageing waste and water infrastructure, ongoing traffic problems and endemic housing shortages. This is because migration doesn’t affect the country evenly.   

Infometrics chief economist Brad Olsen told Newshub while migrants tend to settle in big cities, particularly Auckland, when Kiwis leave they do so from all over the country. This means smaller areas feel the loss more acutely. They’re likely to be struggling now given New Zealand recorded a near-record net migration loss of 42,600 citizens in the August year. The record loss was 44,400 in the February 2012 year.      

“Auckland will be losing people but also gaining a lot of people. Other parts of the country might well be losing people and not really having the gains to offset that,” Olsen said.     

Analysis from BNZ shows Auckland is the first port of call for inbound migrants with 55 percent of net inflows in the year to June heading to Aotearoa’s biggest city. But the data also noted while the migration boom is not well spread in terms of raw numbers, it has been well dispersed relative to regions’ populations. 

Even so, Spoonley and Olsen want to see a proper immigration plan implemented which will ensure rural areas have workers and the country has the necessary infrastructure to accommodate migrants and locals.   

Part of this could include bringing back incentives for migrants to move to smaller, more rural parts of the country. Under Sir John Key’s National Government, migrants were able to earn more points towards residency if they agreed to live in the regions. It’s a policy Professor Spoonley wants to bring back to help make the most of skilled migrants and boost rural businesses.    

“We really need a regional development plan which has immigration as a major part of it. What Canadians have done is they’ve encouraged their regions to develop those economic plans that factor in the number of migrants.     

“When you look at those long-term plans, immigration was not a major part of what New Zealand’s local authorities have considered.”    

Spoonley said it would be fantastic if local authorities could work with the central Government to allocate points based on the needs of their region.     

For example, if Napier needed more nurses, it could offer points to migrant nurses who were willing to work in the region for a certain period of time.    

Gary is supportive of a points system, especially if it includes a commitment to stay in a job for a set time.    

As an accredited employer, he can bring migrants from overseas to work for him. But it’s a long and costly process and on occasion he has seen the staff members leave within a matter of months – leaving him out of thousands in cash and down a staff member.    

The economic benefits and challenges of migration 

New Zealand recorded a net migration gain of 110,200 in the August year, slightly below the annual record of 117,400 in the February 2012 year. It was driven by annual migrant arrivals reaching an all-time high of 225,000 and 115,100 migrants leaving.

Since around 2014 New Zealand’s net migration gain has generally been between 40,000 to 60,000. Then in late 2019, this jumped to more than 70,000. From there it continued to trend up, hitting 90,000 in March 2020 before dropping off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.