The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority says 178 people have refused the Government's offer to buy their residential red-zoned land but more than 6,600 residents have accepted it.
The voluntary buyout offer expired on Tuesday for those on flat land and homeowners who took it up have until the end of July to leave their properties.
The authority says residents were accepting the offer just hours before the 5pm deadline.
But 178 homeowners decided to stay on their red-zoned land, despite being warned that basic services such as water and sewerage may not be maintained and insurers might not renew their policies.
The authority's chief executive, Roger Sutton, says many law firms were closed on Tuesday so there may be some agreements still to be processed.
Mr Sutton says because of that, the number of refusals could fall.
He says the high level of acceptance is what he expected.
