Surprise over the number of Kiwis moving abroad

Stats NZ says New Zealand saw a net migration loss of 52-thousand five hundred citizens - in the year ending March.

It's the first time the number's surpassed 50-thousand - the previous high was about 44-thousand back in 2012.

Massey University Distinguished Professor Paul Spoonley says it's probably the price of things here, that's driving them away.

He says we're six months into a new Government, which he thought might've encouraged people to stay.

Spoonley says 78-thousand New Zealanders leaving, is extraordinary.