A staggering 1300 buildings within The Garden City's four avenues have since been either fully or partially demolished.
Around 1100 building consents, worth $1.76 billion, have been issued.
A world-class cricket oval has been built, along with new bus station; construction on the vast Justice and Emergency Services Precinct is ploughing ahead; and the shiny new Innovation Precinct is flourishing with Vodafone, Kathmandu and Callaghan Innovation all returning to the rebuilding city centre.
While many private developers rushed ahead to build with more certainty outside the CBD -- in Victoria St, Lincoln Rd and Show Place -- others have completed impressive inner-city developments.
Every week, it feels like more empty lots are being filled and joining together with other buildings. It's still a struggle to remember what was there before.
Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) acting chief executive John Ombler says progress is "going gangbusters".
"If you asked me 12 months ago, I would've been a bit disappointed," he said.
"But now, after the incredible amount of work over the last year, everybody across Christchurch can hold their heads pretty high."
Despite the progress -- last September the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment estimated that 49 per cent of recovery construction had been completed -- it's still far from a functioning city.
Several of the Crown-led anchor projects heralded with such fanfare in the July 2012 launch of its rebuild "blueprint", devised in just 100 days, haven't even started.
It's not clear when construction will begin on the strategically critical new convention centre. No work has started on the Metro Sports Complex, central city library, sports stadium, or East Frame residential development.
"There's been little or no information ... about those and there's no doubt it's held back projects," says city property developer Ernest Duval, who is also chair of advocacy group City Owners Rebuild Entity (Core).
"The business community needs some certainty around these ... projects so they can plan around them."
Five years on, Christchurch CBD is "like a tale of two cities", Mr Duval said.
The dividing line comes at Hereford St. Looking south, there has been intense retail and office development, and private and government projects.
But north of Hereford, you quickly hit the fenced-off remains of the once-landmark Christ Church Cathedral and then "acres ... of largely Crown-controlled wasteland", Mr Duval says.
"The private sector is going gangbusters but the Crown really needs to get on with this area north of Hereford," he said.
"When I travel to a city like Auckland ... I marvel at the smooth roads and footpaths, tall buildings ... and fabric of a city where not every second person is wearing a fluoro vest.
"We are five years on. A 16-year-old boy is now a 21-year-old man. We need to get things moving."
