Private dwellings are dwellings that accommodate a person or group of people and are not available to the public, such as houses, flats, and apartments. Non-private dwellings are those that provide short- or long-term communal or transitory accommodation, and are available to the public, such as hotels, motels, hospitals, and rest homes.

Unoccupied private dwellings are private dwellings that were empty, such as unoccupied holiday homes and dwellings being repaired or renovated, or private dwellings whose occupants were all away, at the time of the 2013 Census.

Population growth slows

• There were 4,242,048 people who usually resided in New Zealand at the time of the 2013 New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings.
• The population increased by 214,101 people (5.3 percent) since the 2006 Census. This was smaller than the increase of 290,667 people (7.8 percent) between the 2001 and 2006 Censuses.
• The average annual population growth between 2006 and 2013 (0.7 percent) was less than half of that between 2001 and 2006 (1.5 percent).

More people staying at the same address

• The percentage of people who lived at the same address as five years earlier increased. In 2013, 49.4 percent of the census usually resident population aged five years and over lived at the same address as in 2008. This was an increase from 41.1 percent in 2006.

• Over previous censuses, the percentage of people who lived at the same address as five years earlier was decreasing.

Of those living in Auckland in 2013 who were living in a different region of New Zealand in 2008, the largest movements were from:

• the Waikato region – 11,298 people
• the Wellington region – 9,204 people
• the Canterbury region – 8,799 people.

Of those who lived in Auckland in 2008 and lived in a different region of New Zealand in 2013, the largest movements were to:

• the Waikato region – 15,678 people
• the Northland region – 8,736 people
• the Bay of Plenty region – 7,770 people.

Of those living in Canterbury in 2013 who were living in a different region of New Zealand in 2008, the largest movements were from:

• the Otago region – 6,288 people
• the Auckland region – 6,264 people
• the Wellington region – 4,233 people. 

Of those who lived in Canterbury in 2008 and lived in a different region of New Zealand in 2013, the largest movements were to:

• the Auckland region – 8,799 people
• the Otago region – 7,467 people
• the Wellington region – 4,950 people.

• People who lived overseas five years ago and moved to New Zealand by the 2013 Census were most likely to be living in the Auckland region (46.3 percent or 131,799 people).
• At the time of the 2013 Census there were 32,508 people living in the Canterbury region who lived overseas five years ago.

One in 10 dwellings are unoccupied

• There were 1,570,695 occupied dwellings in 2013 – an increase of 6.2 percent since the 2006 Census.
• Most occupied dwellings are private (99.4 percent).
• The number of unoccupied dwellings (which are all private) increased to 185,448 in 2013, up 16.4 percent from 2006. Unoccupied dwellings made up 10.6 percent of all dwellings in 2013.