Cost pressures for the road transport industry were mixed in the September quarter. Interest costs eased 2.1% to be down 4.5% from a year ago, representing the first annual decline since 2021, as the Reserve Bank cut the official cash rate for the first time since 2020. The OCR was lowered by anothe... Read

The New Zealand economy’s recovery from the stagnation of the last two years will remain patchy until mid-2025, according to Infometrics’ latest forecasts. Although the Reserve Bank’s interest rate cuts since August have finally provided some light at the end of the tunnel for Kiwis, continued increases in the unemployment rate will mean households remain cautious in their spending decisions over the next nine months. The high proportion of mortgage lending on fixed rates also means that the easing in monetary conditions will not have an immediate effect on household budgets. Read

Cost pressures for the road transport industry mostly continued to weaken in the June quarter. The most upward pressure was evident for repairs and maintenance costs, which rose 1.6% from the previous quarter to be up 7.3% from a year ago. The persistence of these cost pressures is reflective of lin... Read

The New Zealand economy faces continued difficult conditions throughout the next 12 months according to Infometrics’ latest forecasts, with increased caution from businesses around investment and hiring in response to weakening demand. Reduced job and income security is becoming a major drag on cons... Read

Although a lot of the discussion around migration over the last year has focused on the record high inflows into New Zealand, the outflow of people from New Zealand has now also lifted to a record high, 11% above the previous maximum in 2011/12. Read

The housing market has been one of the key indicators of increasing stress for households over the last few months. After a mild but short-lived rally during early and mid-2023, buyer demand has softened again, as mortgage rates remain high and expectations of interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank get pushed further into the future. Read

Cost pressures continued to ease for the transport sector in the March 2024 quarter. Diesel prices were 3.5% lower than in the December 2023 quarter, while finance costs edged lower for the second consecutive quarter. Labour costs recorded their smallest quarterly increase in more than three years, ... Read

Updated data from Stats NZ shows that completion numbers for new dwellings have largely tracked as we had estimated over the last two years, pushing to a record high of 43,160 at the end of 2023. Completion numbers over the last six months have been a bit higher than we anticipated, which reflects t... Read

The government’s plans to fully deliver its promised tax cuts at next month’s budget must be in doubt, as the economy falters and the fiscal position continues to get squeezed. Compared to the government’s 2023 Budget, the deficit is tracking to be $1.8b larger than forecast. Read

Economic pressures are getting real for people this year, as higher mortgage rates continue to suck more money out of household budgets, and a swathe of recent job losses undermine income security. Infometrics’ latest economic forecasts show annual GDP and private consumption spending growth briefly... Read