Nick Mills: Wellington has completely lost its way, that's why no one wants to move here

OPINION

Now if you’re anything like me, you hate filling out the census.

There's something about filling it out that makes you think you're giving away too much information.

Soon you've got people knocking on your door making sure you fill it out. It's a giant pain in the backside.

But I understand that the census is an important piece of data for the government to use to determine where the money goes.

Well the results of the 2023 census came out yesterday and there was one pretty shocking result for Wellington.

Try and think of something Wellington and the Chatham Islands have in common.

Very little, you would have thought.

Well, it was revealed yesterday that the only two places in the country where the population didn’t grow by a single person were Wellington City and the Chatham Islands.

Not a single extra person since the census in 2018. Can you believe that?

In actual fact, Wellington’s population dropped by 48 people. We’re smaller than we were in 2018.

And if you think of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants that have arrived in New Zealand since 2018, it seems crazy that this city hasn’t grown at all.

And we all know why. Wellington is nothing like it used to be.

Right now I actually think I’d prefer to live on the Chatham islands. 

I jest...

Regionally Wellington's growth is lagging behind the rest of the country. 

While Wellington City didn’t grow at all, the Wellington region had almost the slowest population growth rate in the country at 2.8% between 2018 and 2023.

It was second only to the Southland region which grew by 2.7%.

The population of Wellington region was almost exactly 521,000 as recorded on census night last year.

The number of dwellings counted in the 2023 census is up 6.4% to 216,000.

Why oh why does no one new want to live in Wellington?

Wellington mayor Tory Whanau said people still want to live in Wellington, but housing affordability is pushing people further out of the region… 

Really Tory?

I actually think that people have had enough of Wellington and think there are better options elsewhere in New Zealand. 

Wellington is in a hole right now.

Tory also said it's important to remember that people move in and out of cities all the time.

She said she knew anecdotally that people had opted to buy homes out of the city because it's more affordable.

Yes I agree  Tory, but the reason that people are moving is the high rates, high insurance and high cost of living in the capital city right now.

A few interesting other facts; Porirua is the fastest growing city in the region with 5.1 % population growth.

Kapiti Coast grew by 4.2%, Upper Hutt by 4% and Lower Hutt by 2.9%.

And here's the star of the show, only a small trip over the hill.

The Wairarapa is growing significantly faster than this side of the hill with an increase of 9.9 percent in South Wairarapa and Carterton, and 8.3% in Masterton.

I get the feeling Wairarapa is the new Kapiti.

And Wellington...

Well.

We have issues.

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