Net migration is likely to have peaked, and more New Zealanders will head overseas in coming months, an economist says.
Statistics New Zealand figures show a net 21,600 permanent and long-term migrants arrived in New Zealand in the year to February.
The figure was 1000 fewer than the year to January 2010, though it is more than three times the figure of 6200 recorded in February last year.
The net outflow to Australia was 15,400 in the year to February, less than half the outflow of 34,400 in the February 2009 year.
However ASB economist, Jane Turner, says annual net migration is showing signs of softening and is likely to have reached its peak. She expects departures, especially to Australia, to increase.
More migrants arrived from the UK, India and China during the year, but fewer came from the Philippines, Fiji and South Africa.
Meanwhile, 2.48 million visitors arrived in New Zealand in the year to February - 2% more than in the February 2009 year, and similar to the number who visited in the February 2008 year.
Visitors from Australia were up 12% for the year, but this was partly offset by large falls in visitor numbers from Japan, Korea, the UK and China.
