About 6500 property-owners have accepted the New Zealand Government’s buyout offer, out of 7207 offers.

Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says the net cost to taxpayers of the offer to buy land deemed irreparable in the Canterbury earthquakes will be more than $NZ1 billion ($819 million).

The Government offers options of buying the house and land or the land only, leaving homeowners to deal with their insurer over the house.

The offer has expired for 5000 property owners, with an acceptance rate of 99.8%.

Mr Brownlee says a major geotechnical investigation by the Earthquake Commission has resulted in what is possibly the world’s most sophisticated level of knowledge about land under an urban region.

New Zealanders’ high level of insurance has provided the vital capital to rebuild, he said last week as he announced the inner city “red zone” will now be known as the “rebuild zone”, to reflect the work under way there.

“We can now demonstrate that our rebuild will significantly de-risk greater Christchurch for future insurance contracts,” Mr Brownlee said. “That will ultimately help keep insurance affordable and ensure sufficient cover is available to progress the recovery.”

He says more than 10,000 aftershocks and 51 earthquakes above magnitude five have been experienced since the first earthquake in September 2010.