Canterbury has outpaced Auckland to gain the top spot in year-on-year growth, as the city's rebuild kicks into action, according to the National Bank's regional trends survey for the March quarter.
Growth was stronger across all 10 of New Zealand's 14 regions, led by Canterbury, up 2.8 per cent, followed by a 2.7 per cent rise in Auckland.
Overall, the survey showed a nationwide economic activity lift of 1.6 per cent year-on-year to March 31.
That is up 50 per cent on the year-on-year growth rate to December 31.
"Canterbury continues to recover from last year's devastating earthquakes," said Steven Edwards from the economics division at National Bank of New Zealand.