New Zealand’s inbound net migration notched up another decade-high monthly gain in October as the exodus to Australia continued to slow.
The country gained a seasonally adjusted 3,000 new migrants in October, beating last month’s 2,800, and matching the biggest monthly inflow of the past decade set in June 2003, according to Statistics New Zealand. The seasonally adjusted net loss of 900 migrants to Australia was a touch higher than in September, ending this year’s run of smaller monthly outflows.
On an annual basis, there was a net gain of 17,500 new migrants in October, compared to a net outflow of 2,300 a year earlier. The biggest gains came from the UK, China, India, the Philippines and Germany, while fewer New Zealanders left for Australia.
Rising migration is seen as one of the contributing factors for the bubbling property market in Auckland, the country’s biggest city and traditional gateway, which has created a headache for the Reserve Bank in that it might have to hike interest rates to head-off future inflation, but doesn’t want to make an already strong currency look any more attractive.
Today’s figures showed a 6 percent increase in short-term visitor arrivals to 195,000 in October from the same month a year earlier, with more Australians more than making up for a decline in Chinese visitors.
(BusinessDesk)
Paul McBeth
Fri, 22 Nov 2013
Fri, 22 Nov 2013
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Kiwis off Aussie, stay home with flock of new immigrants
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