Wellington has overtaken Auckland as the city that accommodates the most refugees.
The number of new refugees settled in the capital doubled in the five years between 2008 and 2013 and in the past two years has risen to more than 200 a year.
Auckland and Christchurch's proportion of the annual 750 refugee quota has fallen over the past decade.
Over the same, time the number of refugees in Manawatu rose from one to more than 100 a year - and in Nelson from two to 65.
The Red Cross Refugee Services manager Molly Kennedy said the shift away from Auckland was pragmatic.
"We have started housing people outside of Auckland when they're newer communities - where you don't have an existing large community in Auckland - largely because there is a lot of pressure on housing in Auckland.
"So if you sent 100 percent of people there, that would be too much of a pressure on services."
Ms Kennedy said refugees were still placed where there were family or ethnic links.
