KEY POINTS:
Remember being told: Don't leave home until you've seen the country? The tagline from a 1984 ad referred to New Zealanders' habit of emigrating before getting to know their own backyard.
But plenty of big city residents are reversing that trend and shifting to the provinces - tempted by the prospect of cheaper homes and better lifestyles.
A Statistics New Zealand report on internal migration surveyed 30,000 people and found 17.1 per cent moved for economic reasons.
Chief demographer Mansoor Khawaja said the survey revealed people who moved for economic reasons were driven by two major factors, home affordability and jobs.
Khawaja said home costs, particularly rent, put people off big cities.
"In places such as Wellington you are looking at double the amount [in small towns] and in Auckland double that," he said.
The average rent on a three-bedroom house in Auckland's Ponsonby is $655, compared with $314 in Hamilton and $303 in Tauranga.
Across Cook Strait, renting an equivalent house averages $324 in Nelson, and just $212 in Invercargill.
According to the 2006 Census, 5847 people left Auckland for the Waikato between 2001 and 2006, and a further 3423 went to the Bay of Plenty while 1842 people headed south to Otago.
Experts agree provincial economies are outperforming cities at the moment and some say the trend could last a few more years.
National Bank research shows that Southland is leading the country in economic growth, at 3.4 per cent, followed by Taranaki at 2.9 per cent.
Bank economist Khoon Goh said first home buyers would be particularly attracted to more affordable house prices outside the country's major urban areas. "They would be struggling to get into the housing market otherwise," he said.
The median house price in Auckland was $437,500 in March, compared with $253,500 in Taranaki and $225,000 in Hawke's Bay.
There are better deals in the South Island, where the March median price was $190,500 in Southland.
Senior Westpac economist Doug Steel said the rural boom was being driven by the thriving dairy industry and rural retail sales were up 7 per cent in the last quarter, compared with a 1 per cent drop in Auckland.
Areas such as Nelson and Marlborough enjoyed a 6.6 per cent rise in retail sales and Southland saw the largest increase in new car registrations - 13 per cent.
"Clearly consumers in the Auckland area are feeling a bit more of a pinch than people in the rural areas," said Steel. "Auckland is certainly taking a bigger hit proportionally from net migration."
The managing director of economic forecaster Infometrics, Gareth Kiernan, said people were attracted to the lower cost of living outside of the main centres, provided they could find work. Growth occupation areas included health professionals in Southland and architecture, engineering and mining in Hamilton.
David Lowe, of the Employers and Manufacturers Association, said baby boomers were the most likely to leave the big city and were happy to change jobs to get to the provinces.
He said places such as Tauranga were still a drawcard with jobseekers but Whangarei, Hawke's Bay and Nelson were increasingly popular alternatives. Migration from the cities was more appealing because of new technology.
"You could be sitting in your apple orchard in the Hawke's Bay running a payroll company in Auckland," Lowe said. And he said regions with low unemployment were often crying out for staff.
"There would be employers just screaming out for people and there will be vacancies they just can't fill."
Business and Economic Research senior economist Dr Ganesh Nana, said the provinces were performing better than they had been for 10 years but sounded a note of caution, warning wages could be lower.
"But that can be balanced out by the cost of living."
Statistics New Zealand said the average weekly wage last December was $687 in Auckland and $812 in Wellington, compared with $592 in Northland and $588 in Hawke's Bay.
But people living in smaller towns said short commutes saved them a fortune in petrol.
Waikato University demographer Professor Ian Pool said the central North Island had seen increases in population because it was cheaper than some of the more popular coastal areas such as Tauranga.
"People move into smaller towns because they seem to be cheaper and they commute from there," he said. "There's less hassle on house prices and driving time."
DOMESTIC MIGRATION
Waikato, the Bay of Plenty, Tasman and Otago are the big winners in domestic migration.
A comparison of census data collected in 2001 and 2006 showed the regions enjoyed the biggest net population gains.
In contrast, Gisborne and Nelson saw the largest net losses.
More than a quarter of the Nelson region's population left during the five-year period, the biggest number in the country, although new arrivals meant an overall loss of 1556 people.
Nelson mayor Kerry Marshall said his region attracted a range of people due to its location and lifestyle.
It had three national parks and was just a 25-minute plane commute from Wellington.
"It's a good place to work, it's good for families," Marshall said. "We have the best of both worlds."
Sharon McGuire, chief executive of the Nelson/Tasman Chamber of Commerce, said the region was popular with older South Islanders who moved north to retire in a warmer climate.
CASE STUDY - FASHION CHAIN
A walk on the beach at sunrise was enough to persuade fashion designer Kellie Taylor and her builder husband Chris to quit Auckland for the Bay of Plenty.
The couple, who run successful boutique chain Moochi, were back in Auckland after five months overseas when they decided to visit a friend in Mt Maunganui. "We got woken up by the sunrise and walked along the beach," said Kellie.
Fed up with long hours and commutes, the couple decided to open their first shop on Auckland's High St and base their design studio and home on the Mount.
The gamble paid off. The Taylors' firm now has five stores nationwide.
Kellie, 34, said the studio cost a fraction of the price it would have done in Auckland and the couple enjoyed the three-minute commute instead of braving the Southern Motorway.
But Kellie said she was paying equal, if not higher, wages to her Bay staff than their Auckland equivalents - and food prices were on a par.
The couple's real savings were down to lifestyle.
"On the weekends [fewer] ladies go shopping down here. It's more 'let's meet up on the beach, go for a walk and have a coffee'."
The couple have reluctantly decided to return to Auckland later this year to build up their business.
CASE STUDY - CAFE DREAM
Former Auckland chefs Lisa and Brent Quarrie always wanted their own cafe, and when a chance opportunity in Hamilton came up, they couldn't resist moving down country to open The River Kitchen.
Lisa, 29, said the move was a great decision.
"We have really been quite overwhelmed by the amount of support we have received," she said.
"There's much more of a community feel here than I ever felt in Auckland."
The couple have opened their cafe to find notes of encouragement from friendly locals.
One regular even lent them kayaks before inviting them for a barbecue.
The couple decided to move last October, becoming restless in Auckland after a year travelling in Southeast Asia.
Despite living in Balmoral, Lisa faced a long crawl along Dominion Rd to work while Brent went even further to Ponsonby Rd.
Now they live a two-minute drive from work and have halved their petrol bill.
Their rent has dropped from $450 for a three-bedroom home to $300 for three bedrooms and a sleepout.
Brent said everything was "a little bit cheaper" in the Waikato but it was not just the extra money they enjoyed - the couple spend their days off exploring the countryside.
