Most Christchurch residents polled think it is a good time to invest in the city, a survey reveals.

A UMR survey of 500 Christchurch residents, conducted after plans to rebuild the central city area were announced, suggests fresh optimism about the earthquake-damaged city's future.

Three in five respondents (61%) think it is a good time to invest in Christchurch, compared to 50% of New Zealanders generally.

And more than 80% of Christchurch residents support, or are neutral towards, the plan to rebuild the city’s central area, the survey shows.

Residents with larger household incomes (85% of those over $100,000) and professionals or technicians (67% and 70%, respectively) were more likely to give the rebuild plan support.

Most respondents (88%) planned to keep living in Christchurch over the next few years, 9% thought they would move and 3% were unsure.

UMR is a full-service market research and evaluation company specialising in corporate reputation, issue management, policy, evaluation, social and rural research.