Otago has maintained its fifth place on the ASB-Main report, with tourism continuing to drive economic activity in the region.
Guest nights are in line with the healthy national average.
ASB economist Chris Tennent-Brown said the housing market showed no sign of slowing yet, with house prices and turnover continuing to lift.
However, consumer confidence remains subdued within an otherwise well-performing region.
''All in all, momentum is looking good for the year ahead in Otago.''
The ASB-Main Report regional economic scoreboard takes the latest quarterly regional economic statistics and ranks the performance of New Zealand's 16 regional council areas.
The fastest-growing regions gain the highest ratings and a good performance by the national economy raises ratings across the board.
Ratings are based on measures such as employment, construction, retail trade and house prices.
Auckland has leap-frogged Canterbury into the top spot for economic growth in the latest scoreboard - a position it last held in September 2013.
The move, up from second place in the previous quarter, had occurred as unrelenting house price pressure continued to be stronger in Auckland than elsewhere, while high migration and jobs growth combine to boost retail spending, Mr Tennent-Brown said.
Although Canterbury has dropped back to No 2 in the rankings, the region remained near the front of the pack across all measures tracked in the scoreboard, and retained the highest regional consumer confidence score.
Southland was floating in the middle of the pack as economic continued at a modest pace.
Employment growth was the real winner in the last quarter, registering the highest growth of all regions - despite the impacts of subdued dairy prices.
Guest nights and residential construction activity were also Southland's strong performers.
In particular, the lift in guest nights on a year ago was the strongest across the country, Mr Tennent-Brown said.
New car sales and construction had also been strong.
Southland's Achilles heel continued to be house prices, which registered only a small increase on a year go, he said.
Next quarter might be a better reflection of the year as a whole, he said.
