In an interview with the Otago Daily Times, Mr English said he was conscious of the need to keep the pressure on the Christchurch City Council to keep moving.
The aftershocks were gradually easing and the Government was "working hard" to remove bureaucratic blocks to the reconstruction of the city, including work being done around building standards and getting consents approved.
There were signs of a skill shortage, as some rebuilding started and a lot of people had received their money either though the Government buying suburbs rendered uninhabitable by the quakes or through the insurance payouts.
The Government was also working with insurers to hasten the process, but Mr English indicated that the council could take a more active role.
This week he was campaigning in Motueka and was told that every available section had been sold, mainly to people moving out of Christchurch.
New Zealand's net migration loss in September was driven by people leaving Christchurch for Australia.
"The council can curtail that by making available more lower-priced sections."
It was investors who would fund the rebuild of the central business district (CBD) and the council should focus on what it had to do to get people to stay in the city not on its "vision" for the city.
"The vision can't happen if businesses don't want to invest and families don't want to stay," Mr English said.
• Christchurch can no longer officially be called New Zealand's second-biggest city, APNZ reported yesterday.
Latest figures showed more than 10,000 people left the city in the year to June.
Although 1700 arrived, the net loss of population is still almost 9000 and represents a 2.4% reduction.
Statistician Kim Dunstan said that meant urban Wellington now had a bigger population than urban Christchurch.
However, the Christchurch City Council was still the second biggest in the country, as Wellington is governed by several local authorities. Detailed population figures are not due out until December, but Statistics New Zealand was confident Wellington is now the second biggest city in the country.
The Otago Chamber of Commerce has expressed concerns that southern businesses were becoming isolated by the lack of reconstruction activity in Christchurch.
Chamber executives have expressed fears about a two-tier economy, with the South Island lagging well behind the North Island.
Mr English agreed there had been elements of that with tourism suffering because people could not stay in Christchurch.
But he was confident that when construction began, there would be a steady pick-up of the South Island economy and the main problem would be a lack of skills.
Unemployment in the South Island was only 4% and would fall further once the rebuild was under way.
The cost of rebuilding Christchurch was huge in New Zealand economic terms, Mr English said.
"We should be preparing for how to deal with wage pressures that will flow through the South Island from a skill shortage and a supply shortage.
"About $20 billion has to be spent in Christchurch and so far, we have only spent $2 billion. I understand the chamber concerns that it has taken so long."
