Southland Region

Southland is centred on Invercargill, with Bluff, Gore and Riverton as the other notable towns, and includes Stewart Island. The regional economy is predominantly rural -- dairy farming and sheep grazing dominate, alongside tourism driven by Fiordland National Park on the region's western edge.

Bluff, about 30km south of Invercargill and New Zealand's southernmost mainland settlement, is known nationally for its annual Bluff Oyster and Food Festival. Environment Southland's own scientists have documented declining water quality correlating with dairy farming's expansion since the early 2000s -- a specific, sourced regional issue worth knowing about if water quality or waterway access matters to how you'll use the land, rather than generic "farming affects the environment" filler.

Compared with the rest of the South Island, Southland's housing costs and population density are both genuinely lower, which comes with a correspondingly smaller range of specialist jobs and services outside the farming and public-sector roles that anchor Invercargill's economy.