New Zealand is back in Level 4, and our team has been examining how Lockdown 2.0 will be affecting the economy, alongside our other usual operations.
In this month’s newsletter, Principal Economist Brad Olsen takes an extended look at Lockdown 2.0, what’s happened to the economy, and why the economy is well positioned to rebound. Our latest Quarterly Economic Monitor was released last week, and our media release confirms regional economies were resilient in the lead up to Level 4 and will drive the eventual bounce back.
As we start to look at recent data on the economy, Senior Economist Rob Heyes’ article on real time data is pertinent, with a need to balance speed with precision in short-term data. Also topical is Senior Economist Nick Brunsdon’s examination of housing affordability across New Zealand, inspired by recent work by Emma Vitz – the maps might be colourful, but the picture they paint isn’t as pretty.
Finally, Brad rounds out the newsletter with a Chart of the Month examining interest rate terms, finding that two-thirds of all mortgages will need to be repriced in the next year – at a time when interest rates are rising and are set to continue heading higher.
