{"id":895013,"date":"2026-09-14T04:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T04:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/895013\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T04:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T04:52:18","slug":"fewer-kiwis-leave-net-migration-gain-hits-its-highest-level-in-almost-two-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/895013\/","title":{"rendered":"Fewer Kiwis leave: Net migration gain hits its highest level in almost two years"},"content":{"rendered":"The long-term averages for July years (2002 to 2025) were 122,800 migrant arrivals, 91,700 migrant departures, and a net migration gain of 31,200.<\/p>\n
Annual migrant arrivals peaked at 232,900 in the October 2023 year in the post-Covid rush, but declined steadily until mid-2025.<\/p>\n
Citizens of China, India, the Philippines and Sri Lanka drove net migration gains in the July 2026 year, Stats NZ said.<\/p>\n
For the month of July, there was a net gain of 5200. That was up from 2300 in June.<\/p>\n
However, July traditionally sees an increase in arrivals on student visas.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust under two in five migrant arrivals in July 2026 were on a student visa, coinciding with the start of the second academic semester,\u201d Stats NZ said.<\/p>\n
While stronger than expectations, migration data was volatile and the annual figures remained well south of about 46,000 longer-term annual averages, said ASB senior economist Mark Smith.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe retain our view that net immigration will recover more gradually, with a more meaningful improvement into 2027 as the economic recovery matures.\u201d<\/p>\n
Economists expect the economic recovery to gather pace through 2027, which should see the balance of the labour market shift and create more demand for workers.<\/p>\n
Employment is traditionally one of the biggest drivers of immigration trends.<\/p>\n
Economists have also noted signs of a slowdown in the Australian economy, where interest rates are higher.<\/p>\n
HSBC Australia New Zealand chief economist Paul Bloxham has a central case which sees the Australian economy weakening.<\/p>\n
As pressure goes on the job market in Australia that may continue to cause an easing of New Zealand migrant departures across the Tasman.<\/p>\n
There was a net migration loss of 28,400 people to Australia in the December 2025 year \u2013 an improvement on a net migration loss of 31,100 in the December 2024 year.<\/p>\n
Liam Dann is business editor-at-large for the New Zealand Herald. He is a senior writer and columnist, and also presents and produces videos and podcasts. He joined the Herald in 2003.<\/p>\n
Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The long-term averages for July years (2002 to 2025) were 122,800 migrant arrivals, 91,700 migrant departures, and a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[17716,72305,45,49,48,46,16862,178356,78303,55613,67269,2000,20586,10719,34296,29599,25044,10559,32286,14519,11352,33783,6372,9909,9230,31036,9911],"class_list":["post-895013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-net","tag-almost","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy","tag-fell","tag-fewer","tag-gain","tag-highest","tag-hits","tag-in","tag-its","tag-july","tag-kiwis","tag-leave","tag-leaving","tag-level","tag-migrants","tag-migration","tag-number","tag-residents","tag-rose","tag-two","tag-while","tag-years","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}