Paul Atienza moved from Manila to his "dream city" of Christchurch. His family will join him soon.

Saving enough for a deposit on a lower-priced Christchurch house is getting easier.

The Canterbury Development Corporation's (CDC) latest economic update showed that in 2015 a couple earning a joint income of $97,760 took five years to save the 20 per cent deposit for a lower-priced house costing $370,480.

That was six months less than it took in 2014, and considerably less than the 8.5 years it would take to save the deposit for a central Auckland property.

It is a big draw card for skilled migrants like software engineer Paul Atienza.

Atienza​ recently moved from Manila. His wife, Grace, and their two children, Sophie, 10, and Zeph​, 8, will follow in a couple of months.

There were more job opportunities in Wellington and Auckland, but Atienza​ said housing affordability was a major reason to settle in Christchurch where they would eventually buy a home.

"In Auckland I couldn't begin to imagine how I would feed my family there.

"Christchurch is a dream city for us, even in the midst of the rebuild it is ideal."

CDC chief executive Tom Hooper said servicing a 25-year mortgage on a lower-priced home would take 25 per cent of gross income in Christchurch, well below the 42 per cent it would take in Auckland.

"That Auckland figure blew me away ... as a city we have some significant affordability advantages and we should be thinking about how we should use them."

Hooper said the ability to buy a property encouraged skilled people to stay for the lifestyle.

In the year to March, Christchurch gained 5835 new residents. More than 65 per cent of these migrants had jobs unrelated to the rebuild, he said, and their view of the city was positive. "They're telling all their friends, 'you should come here'."

Hooper said there had been concern that the residential rebuild would lead to an oversupply of houses in Christchurch, "but with good solid levels of migration, we don't expect that to be a problem".

Although growing incomes, stabilising rents and house prices had helped housing affordability, Hooper said home ownership was still a challenge for low-income families.