{"id":350639,"date":"2026-03-27T13:41:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T13:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/350639\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T13:41:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T13:41:15","slug":"nzme-business-panel-christchurch-is-booming-and-aucklanders-are-increasingly-moving-south","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/350639\/","title":{"rendered":"NZME business panel: Christchurch is booming \u2013 and Aucklanders are increasingly moving south"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s a great place to live,\u201d she told the audience, just hours after the city\u2019s new $683 million covered stadium was formally opened<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a unique opportunity here in Christchurch on the back of our rebuild. Our economy is going really, really well. We\u2019re in such a great position and we need to make sure we keep that momentum going. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t talk about the Middle East today, that would be quite nice, because obviously that is at the forefront of everyone\u2019s minds right now. Our advice at the moment is to plan, not panic. So subject to the impact of the Middle East, and we do know there will be an impact, this economy is going really well.\u201d <\/p>\n

Traditional sectors remain the backbone of the region, but new and emerging industries such as aerospace and medical technologies are playing a \u201cvery real\u201d and key role. <\/p>\n

\"BusinessBusiness Canterbury chief executive Leeann Watson says the Christchurch economy is going really well. Photo \/ Supplied <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery other day, we are seeing businesses choose to move and set up here,\u201d Watson said.<\/p>\n

Nicola Grigg, MP for Selwyn, the fastest-growing district in the country, agreed and said the rebuild was done by local people who are now getting to enjoy its benefits.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Christchurch event attracted about 120 people today. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Adam Heazlewood, of Bayleys Canterbury, said he meets \u201cmultiple\u201d Aucklanders every weekend wanting to make the move south.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always ask them why they want to move to Christchurch. Sometimes it\u2019s due to family, business opportunity, whatever it may be, but what keeps coming up now as well is lifestyle improvement. It\u2019s a really positive sign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heazlewood believes the region will experience \u201csome gradual growth\u201d in 2026, saying that the \u201cbuyers are there and sentiment is really good\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to see value. If buyers don\u2019t see value in this market, they\u2019re not just going to act with emotion. They are going to need to see something compelling in front of them that makes sense and they are willing to act,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The first home buyers\u2019 market is strong, he said, with the average sale price of $685,000 for the region an attractive entry point for many.<\/p>\n

Post-quake inner city apartments are also proving to be highly competitive and \u201cpeople are buying them\u201d, Heazlewood said.<\/p>\n

Hosking asked the panel what they would do if they had a magic wand for the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just need more cashflow and spending \u2013 the rest will sort itself out,\u201d Heazlewood said.<\/p>\n

Grigg agreed, saying a \u201cconfidence injection\u201d would work wonders.<\/p>\n

Watson said: \u201cMore certainty, more stability, which I know is hard in this environment, but also, to get out there and be bold and courageous and tell our stories because actually we\u2019ve got a damn positive story to tell right here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s a great place to live,\u201d she told the audience, just hours after the city\u2019s new $683 million…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[36966,95,192,74186,22398,170774,138,10043,4487,219,10053,83644,51928,185,263,2683,2686,111,43,139,4061,69,26263,12968,12253,12937,65162,1240,29591],"class_list":["post-350639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-affordable","tag-and","tag-are","tag-attracting","tag-aucklanders","tag-booming","tag-business","tag-canterburys","tag-christchurch","tag-economy","tag-house","tag-increasing","tag-increasingly","tag-is","tag-lifestyle","tag-move","tag-moving","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-number","tag-nz","tag-nzme","tag-opportunities","tag-panel","tag-prices","tag-relatively","tag-south","tag-wanting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}