Christchurch/Canterbury is blessed with literally hundreds of miles of prime flat land - and a massive leap in house building capacity in the decade post quake enabled by a willing local authority. Ample supply insured there was no boom like we saw virtually in every other NZ Metro where the opposite situation is rampant with flat land scarce and councils are fairly useless at approving higher density zoning or new green field infrastructure investment.
I don’t doubt that Christchurch is now looking very attractive to a many Auckland & Welllington first home buyers facing $800k-$1million+ prices for a basic house in those cities, as well as retirees and others looking to “cash out” there windfall equity gains and getting the same or bigger house in Christchurch for far less cost.
Really we simply need more new cities in New Zealand - most of the country is virtually uninhabited farmland. And there are to-many-to-count stretches of pristine land sitting in areas with great weather and in range of beautiful coastlines that would be perfect for new mini-cities.
I like that many of the retirement village operators are targeting exactly these sort of areas, albeit ones not too far from major centers (I guess timely access to a modern hospital is important to many retirees).