New Zealand's migration level has remained elevated as the number of new inbound migrants continues to rise and fewer locals move across the Tasman.
The country in December gained a seasonally adjusted 2,800 net new migrants in December, largely unchanged from a month earlier, according to Statistics New Zealand.
Seasonally adjusted, about 2,600 people left New Zealand for Australia, in line with a month earlier, while the number of new arrivals rose to 8,300 from 8,200 in November.
On an annual basis, New Zealand gained a net 22,500 new migrants, compared to an outflow of 1,200 a year earlier. That's the biggest inflow of migrants since 2003, when the country gained a net 34,900 migrants.
Inbound migration is seen as one of the factors driving New Zealand's accelerating economic momentum as it fuels a bubbling property market.
The Reserve Bank on Thursday signalled an interest rate hike is imminent as it looks to head off inflationary pressures, in an economy that's expected to grow at an annual pace of about 3.5 per cent this year.
Australia was the biggest contributor of new migrants, with 19,500 permanent and long-term arrivals in 2013, a gain of 31 per cent from a year earlier.
Departures to Australia fell to 39,200 in 2013 from 53,700 the previous year. Most migrants in both directions were New Zealand citizens.
New Zealand's other main net migration gains last year were from the United Kingdom (5,800), China (5,700) and India (5,400).
Thursday's figures also showed that the number of short-term visitor arrivals in December was 381,900, up 4.9 per cent rise on the same month in 2012, for an annual gain of six per cent to 2.72 million.
Increasing numbers of Australian and US visitors offset declining numbers of Chinese in December.
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