A weak Australian economy has seen Kiwis coming home from across the Tasman in their thousands.

Prime Minister John Key has hailed record migration as a "reason to celebrate", with most of the arrivals coming from groups the country "can do nothing about".

Official figures on Monday showed the surge of Kiwis coming home from Australia has continued for a full year for the first time in a generation, with people arriving from across the Tasman outnumbering those leaving.

Meanwhile net migration from all countries hit 62,500, the latest in a series of records, with signs that the trend is still increasing.

In the 12 months to October 31, around 100 more people arrived from Australia than left New Zealand to move across the ditch. It was the first time New Zealand has seen net inward migration from Australia since 1991, and marks a sharp reversal from 2012, when those moving to Australia outnumbered those moving here by 40,000.

READ MORE: Migration expected to stay strong, stoking unemployment - Westpac

The change in migration patterns comes as the Australian economy cools, with an increase in those returning also coming as fewer Kiwis move to Australia seeking work.

Prime Minister John Key told reporters that it make sense to "review who's coming in". But he added that the figures were "in a way...a time of great celebration" as it marked massive turnaround in the population New Zealand had been losing to Australia.

Key said around half of the overall arrivals were either international students - who made money for New Zealand - of New Zealanders arriving from overseas. Beyond that many of the arrivals fell into either highly skilled or investor categories, who added to New Zealand's economy.

"All of those things are either things that we can't control, wouldn't want to control of things that we should celebrate," Key said.

"The alternative to this is net migration showing huge numbers of people leaving our country. Show me a country which is booming around the world, where more people leave it than come to it. The answer is, New Zealand is highly placed as a destination that people would want to come and live in."

Chris Tennent-Brown, senior economist at ASB, said much of the turnaround between New Zealand and Australia was for negative reasons. Kiwis may be put off moving to Australia because their prospects were not as strong as they once were.

Meanwhile Kiwis living in Australia may be coming home either because New Zealand's labour market was stronger, or possible because there was often little in the way of social welfare available for foreigners who were out of work.

The Australian labour market's "been a bit patchy", Tennent-Brown said "and the safety net in Aussie is not great, and that could be a contributing factor to the big turnaround in the trans-Tasman net migration.

Monday's figures from Statistics New Zealand also showed overall net migration hit a new record level of 62,500.

Economists at Westpac said the strong inflows would cause New Zealand's annual population growth rate to reach its highest pace since 1974.

The largest source of net migration was India, at 13,100, driven by a sharp increase in students coming to New Zealand, followed by China (8600), the Philippines (4900) and Britain (3700).

Economists have warned that record immigration will stoke unemployment as well as put pressure on an already strong Auckland housing market.

For much of 2015 economists have been expecting net-migration to peak and begin falling, as Kiwis begin moving back across the Tasman, while the increase in the number of foreign students peaks.

ASB's Tennent-Brown said that the rate of migration was still showing signs of increasing.

"None of the underlying patterns behind the increase are fading and if anything the inflows of migrants still appears to be picking up."