I believe the two biggest are, can't remember where or how I know this, may have been a couple of years ago too, so may now have changed, either way there are two really big plants in NZ, one in Waikato, one in Canterbury.

According to this website Hawera is the largest dairy processing plant in the world. http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/agricultural-processing-industries/2/6/1

http://www.teara.govt.nz/files/p-25160-enz_0.jpg

or according to the ODT Edendale is the worlds largest dairy processing plant.

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/farming/64974/southern-plant-will-be-world039s-biggest

So at least we can say with pride when it comes to processing milk us lot down under are the biggest and best.

I like to think that without my great great great granddad, Wesley Spragg, who was a giant in NZ's early dairy industry, NZ's strong dairy industry may not be where it is today.
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2s37/1

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10729540

http://www.ttrl.co.nz/

If Otumatuataiyi is gonna play at this game, I'd like to do something similar. Invercargill will be Auckland, Queenstown will be Hamilton, Milford Sound will be Tauranga.

Look, now the Southern Triangle is vital to the NZ economy, look how much tourism it contributes!

Anyone else want to make up some arbitrary regional conurbations? What about Christchurch-Auckland? They're pretty vitally interconnected.

Cool sure. How about providing some figures then? and while you you at it how much infrastructure do they need to fix their traffic jams? What about more rail to move goods to market and all that? Whats the population growth down there like too? 12%? Oh no.... of course not.

Listing all of AUCKLAND'S problems and comparing them with towns and villages in the Lakes and Southland regions isn't really fair.

I think Otumoetai, you missed the point entirely. But to continue to indulge you:

Cool sure. How about providing some figures then? and while you you at it how much infrastructure do they need to fix their traffic jams? What about more rail to move goods to market and all that? Whats the population growth down there like too? 12%? Oh no.... of course not.

Population growth in the Southern Trapezoid of Gore and Queenstown is the highest in NZ.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5094448/PM-backs-mining-souths-lignite This will hopefully back that up Richard, if all goes to plan with lignite.

So, we've strayed away from the economic perspective and rolled into a "real city" argument? How sad.

Ok well then please do tell us what you think of the two business cases and all you know of the methodology of both.

]The future of coal in New Zealand[/I]

Posted in Science Alert: Experts Respond on May 17th, 2011.

The future of coal and proposed lignite developments in Southland, and their role in feeding growing energy needs here and abroad was the focus of a symposium in Wellington today.

The event, organised by Victoria University of Wellington’s Institute for Policy Studies, featured visiting NASA climate scientist Dr James Hansen, and canvassed the views of a number of experts, covering everything from lignite conversion and carbon capture and storage technologies, to climate consequences of fossil fuels and New Zealand’s economic potential as an exporter of coal-based fuels in the coming decades.

The SMC gathered the quotes below from the scientists and speakers on the symposium panels.

Audio recordings from the event are available here

Dr Mike Isaac, geologist at GNS Science, said:

“Large-scale mining of lignites in New Zealand would be a significant departure from what we currently do. … It’s technically quite simple to make diesel from lignite, so as the price of oil increases the world will be under increasing pressure to make transport fuels from brown coal.

“As New Zealand goes ahead, to my way of thinking, there are only three alternatives:

“We can decide not to mine lignite — for briquettes or for fertiliser or for synthetic fuel plants — that’s one alternative.

“The second alternative is to proceed with large-scale lignite mining, particularly for transport fuels, and accept that you have to carry the costs in carbon offsets or in carbon capture and storage and sequestration of the carbon dioxide.

“The third alternative is that we give up on the Kyoto protocol and its expectations. We accept that in 2020 emissions from fossil fuels will actually be higher than they were, not lower as we said they would be.

“So these are three stark alternatives we face as a country.

“As long as there is a world trade in liquid fuels, you can ask whether NZ can mine and process liquid fuels from lignite as cheaply as it could be done in Victoria, where the lignite deposits are vast.

“But that’s a bit of a secondary consideration. What we really need to decide is whether we go down the path or not.”

Dr Geoff Bertram, VUW Institute of Policy Studies, said:

“Coal is a dirty fuel when used cheaply, and an expensive fuel when used cleanly” …

“The economics of Southland lignite hinge very crucially on the emission cost consequences for the economics of the project. By giving it free NZUs [credits for emissions under the ETS] you essentially remove the crucial element from the economics of the projects.

“I think at the point where Southland lignite is proposed to go ahead with free NZU allocations, my answer is, ‘That’s it — stop’. And there’s a full stop after that. You’ve moved away from economics and into just juggernaut development thinking.

“This business of taking account of the emissions cost of the lignite development is fundamental to the economics of considering those developments.”

Dr James Hansen, Columbia University, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said:

“I think if you have a gradually increasing carbon tax, it will be economically beneficial and stimulate economies, moving us towards clean energies.

“And it will help us leave coal in the ground. Or to use coal — it’s okay to use coal as long as we capture the CO2 and put it back in the ground. If we put that price on, it will force us to do one of those two things.”

Dr Don Elder, Chief Executive of Solid Energy, said:

“Some in New Zealand would say — ‘Leave the coal in the ground.’

“[And other speakers here today have said] that if you come to the conclusion that you can’t manage the impacts of coal, then you only have one option left, which is to leave it in the ground.

“I don’t actually quite agree with that. Were it that simple, life would be a lot easier.” …

“Here is an opportunity. We have lignite that can be converted to urea [fertiliser]. … All other things being equal, there is only one possibility in the world today: a tonne of urea produced here replaces a tonne of urea produced from the same coal in China. The transport emissions between China and here are displaced, and the global emissions go down, not up.

“The same sort of argument applies for transport fuels. … A barrel of diesel produced here will displace a barrel of fuel produced in China, and will also avoid the emissions that result from the transport of that fuel here.”

Jan Wright, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, said:

“The oil price shocks of the 70s led to self-sufficiency energy policies in many countries, and New Zealand was no exception.

“The [Liquid Fuels Trust Board - charged with finding ways for NZ to be self-sufficient in transport fuels] spent a lot of money on research characterising the lignite reserves in Southland and Otago. It’s that expenditure of public money in the 80s, that has provided critical information for large-scale development of lignite now.” …

“The plans for using lignite on a large scale were hatched during a time when only a few scientists were concerned about climate change. Over the time that I’ve been interested in climate change, I’ve seen two trends: first, the predictions have become increasingly gloomy; second, the consensus has become stronger and stronger.” …

“I have in my mind the picture of a lignite ‘train’ that started running, when only a few scientists were concerned about climate change, and it continues to run as if this still were the case. There is no sign of it being derailed.”

…

“I’ve seen claims in the media that producing diesel and urea from lignite will mean lower prices for New Zealanders — cheaper diesel and cheaper fertiliser. I find this odd.

“Diesel, urea and briquettes are all commodities that are traded internationally, and that means trading at world prices.

“Of course, things produced here might be a little cheaper because transport costs are lower, but I said, ‘might be.’ We produce huge amounts of cheese here, but it’s not cheap.”

Ok well then please do tell us what you think of the two business cases and all you know of the methodology of both.

It's just a matter of " we want it but we don't want to pay for it". Which of course, means that they want the central government to fit the bill. Which it can't do because they don't have any money left as most of it has gone towards helping out Christchurch.

So, Aucklanders will just have to accept the fact that they can't expect the central government to come running whenever they feel like spending a few billion dollars on a public transport system. We have to fit the bill whenever our council wants to build something. Why can't Auckland? You always keep going on about how rich and wonderful your city is.

Isn't it the central government's job to pay for transport?

Remember, even though Auckland gets the billions more often, it is still in a pretty poor state and it's public transport system has been neglected for a long time.

Auckland has the greatest need for the money.

We could sure use some money for the SH1 Wellington Northern Corridor. It's a congested mess.

It's just a matter of " we want it but we don't want to pay for it". Which of course, means that they want the central government to fit the bill. Which it can't do because they don't have any money left as most of it has gone towards helping out Christchurch.

So, Aucklanders will just have to accept the fact that they can't expect the central government to come running whenever they feel like spending a few billion dollars on a public transport system. We have to fit the bill whenever our council wants to build something. Why can't Auckland? You always keep going on about how rich and wonderful your city is.

Not many people are asking for more central government spending on transport in Auckland, more a diversion of funding from state highway construction to public transport.

Isn't it the central government's job to pay for transport?

Remember, even though Auckland gets the billions more often, it is still in a pretty poor state and it's public transport system has been neglected for a long time.

Auckland has the greatest need for the money.

Nationwide transport like state highways is funded by the central government, not urban systems (well recently when the government had a bit extra to spend).

And considering the mess further south, I'd say the Cantabrians could do with all the money they can get. So, god forbid, perhaps Auckland can do the honourable thing and wait. I know we have to. Most of the funding we get from central government has been diverted to Christchurch.

Lol.
How many decades has Auckland been waiting for a proper transport system that is actually serious about moving people around......????

More than Half a century?

Yeah about 60 or 70 years

Nationwide transport like state highways is funded by the central government, not urban systems (well recently when the government had a bit extra to spend).

Really?? So what about Victoria Park tunnel, the Waterview connection, Upper Harbour Motorway, Manukau motorway? These are all urban motorway projects not national ones. In the case of Waterview this is not starting until later this year.

It's just a matter of " we want it but we don't want to pay for it". Which of course, means that they want the central government to fit the bill. Which it can't do because they don't have any money left as most of it has gone towards helping out Christchurch.

So, Aucklanders will just have to accept the fact that they can't expect the central government to come running whenever they feel like spending a few billion dollars on a public transport system. We have to fit the bill whenever our council wants to build something. Why can't Auckland? You always keep going on about how rich and wonderful your city is.

As noted above it's a matter of we want it because it makes economic sense and there are other projects scheduled for the region which don't (Puhoi to Wellsford) so we would rather that money was spent on this project. Auckland council will contirbute but it cannot afford to do it alone.

Your second comment betrays a fair amount of small town petty provincialisim. Sounds to me like although you have no clue on the merits of this project of if it can actually be afforded you are just happy because it denies Auckland something. BTW comparing the needs of Nelson with Auckland is just ignorant.

As noted above it's a matter of we want it because it makes economic sense and there are other projects scheduled for the region which don't (Puhoi to Wellsford) so we would rather that money was spent on this project. Auckland council will contirbute but it cannot afford to do it alone.

Your second comment betrays a fair amount of small town petty provincialisim. Sounds to me like although you have no clue on the merits of this project of if it can actually be afforded you are just happy because it denies Auckland something. BTW comparing the needs of Nelson with Auckland is just ignorant.

My point was that the central government cannot afford it. It doesn't have the money to spend on projects like this yet. Have you been living in a cave for the past two weeks? The government has got no money. That isn't hard to understand.

And no, I wasn't trying to compare Auckland's problems with those of Nelson. I merely told you that our council has been stripped of all transport funding since the money has to go to Christchurch. Speaking of which, please tell me why Auckland is more deserving than Christchurch? Has Auckland's CBD been almost destroyed by earthquakes?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/business/5088573/Hong-Kongs-progress-an-impressive-tale

My point was that the central government cannot afford it. It doesn't have the money to spend on projects like this yet. Have you been living in a cave for the past two weeks? The government has got no money. That isn't hard to understand.

And no, I wasn't trying to compare Auckland's problems with those of Nelson. I merely told you that our council has been stripped of all transport funding since the money has to go to Christchurch. Speaking of which, please tell me why Auckland is more deserving than Christchurch? Has Auckland's CBD been almost destroyed by earthquakes?

You seem to change tack with each post.

They have money because they are spending 10 billion dollars on RoNS and a lot of which are Auckland motorway projects one of these in the Auckland region has a very poor economic case. Therefore Auckland Council's preference is that this money is spent on the CBD loop instead. That is also pretty easy to understand.

This is not a one or the other argument about CHCH. Nobody in the government has even said that so I'm not sure why you are bringing that into the argument. The government has aslo stated that it is counter productive to hold back infrastructure projects which will add to our economy, they will be funded alongside the Christchurch rebuild.

And by the way if you actually bothered to read up on the subject, you'll find that governement funding for local roads has been stripped back, not because of Christchurch, but because pretty much all fuel excise taxes have been committed to the roads of national significance for the next decade.

Has Auckland's CBD been almost destroyed by earthquakes?

No - but it has been held back by decades of underinvestment in infrastructure, along with the rest of Auckland

No - but it has been held back by decades of underinvestment in infrastructure, along with the rest of Auckland

More than other major cities like Wellington, Hamilton and Christchurch?

More than other major cities like Wellington, Hamilton and Christchurch?

Yes

More than other major cities like Wellington, Hamilton and Christchurch?

Yeah way too much has been spent outside of auckland for quite a few decades. Things are changing now thank god. Thats why its so important that fast growing cities get the funding to build new roads and public transport projects early, than than having a repeat of the Auckland situation.

Totally agree.
This is why the golden triangle should get a disproportionate amount of funding now, otherwise it will be the poor quality of life triangle very soon.

I really worry about the future of Auckland.
It is nearly too late to pull it out of the fire.

Yeah way too much has been spent outside of auckland for quite a few decades. Things are changing now thank god. Thats why its so important that fast growing cities get the funding to build new roads and public transport projects early, than than having a repeat of the Auckland situation.

So, what about fast-growing cities outside of the so-called "Golden Triangle"? Should they recieve extra funding to ensure economic success?

Yes.

^^ So doesn't that therefore all mean that there simply isn't enough money in the pot to go around?

Auckland has had MORE than it's fair share of government funding for transport compared to most other regions. Most of the reason for this was purely because we underinvested heavily throughout the country as a whole during the 1970's thru to the 1990's and that we are now playing "catch up"... And since Auckland has the greatest transport problems through it's rapid population growth, it also received the lions share of the money.

But what is happening now is that the government has increased funding somewhat, but it's still a "catch up" process. Christchurch has had NO major projects since the very half-assed 2km long, 2 lane Southern Motorway back in 1981. Even Dunedin (Sthrn Mwy) and Whangarei (Kamo Bypass) and Nelson (Stoke Bypass) have had way more funding relative to their size...

So the government is right in diverting all this cash into the RoNS... but yes, it will mean that dozens of other projects around the country, typically the rural ones, might get pushed back. Auckland's projects might get slowed down a bit but I don't expect that they will get deferred indefinitely (except the rail loop because no-one wants to pay for it)

^^That's not correct. Auckland is willing to pay towards it. We don't have the means to fund the whole thing on our own.

Good article from Rod Oram in the SST on the subject:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/business/5101399/Auckland-rail-loop-gets-orange-light

Sums up very well the short sightedness of the MoT.

This is my point also.
It's not as if Auckland has been riding the gravy train. It has been short-changed for years and now it is time to pay up.
I really hope billions are spent on a proper public transport system, because if it is spent on roading, then it's really just a case of the neglect continuing.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/rebuilding-christchurch/5125159/Canterbury-to-rocket-ahead

^^ I do question how one equates a rebuild with economic growth. It's not a sustainable growth. Still, at least it will help the region.

^^ I do question how one equates a rebuild with economic growth. It's not a sustainable growth. Still, at least it will help the region.

No, but it will be a jumpstart for some form of an economic recovery. All the money generated by the rebuild will no doubt have flow on effects, both for Christchurch and possibly the nation as a whole.

^^ I do question how one equates a rebuild with economic growth. It's not a sustainable growth. Still, at least it will help the region.

Technically it's economic activity so it gets counted in GDP

Read the parable of the broken window (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window) to understand why we shouldn't get excited over economic activity resulting from earthquake damage.

how do we feel about KPMG's opinion on interest free student loans?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/5130562/Incentives-idea-for-useful-degrees

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/business/5130191/Call-to-move-energy-agencies-to-Taranaki

how do we feel about KPMG's opinion on interest free student loans?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/5130562/Incentives-idea-for-useful-degrees

Well, there's goes my hopes of hoping to get some form of leverage for future tertiary studies. Apparently journalists aren't important.

Well, there's goes my hopes of hoping to get some form of leverage for future tertiary studies. Apparently journalists aren't important.

It's ok... KPMG are renowned for showing a complete disregard to anything outside of their area of interest... this also means they aren't mentally flexible enough to convince the wider public outside the finance sector that they are worth listening to.

I realise the media have a habit of regurgitating the same stuff, I can't help feelinhttp://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/experts-say-nz-sitting-oil-bonanza-4220855g somewhat optimistic about this.

http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/experts-say-nz-sitting-oil-bonanza-4220855

You and your links...you needa copy the text then paste as a quote! People often won't bother reading something they have to click :)

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5134157/Mega-call-centre-could-affect-thousands-of-jobs

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/business/5159453/Fonterra-moves-further-into-China

^^ I wonder if they'll participate in more Melamine tainted milk scandals since they're there. China is not a market I would like a company to get involved in - especially not in the food industry given the amount of tainted produce there and dodgy practices.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pepe-escobar/is-brazil-the-new-united-_b_743343.htmlMaybe the focus should be on Brazil.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pepe-escobar/is-brazil-the-new-united-_b_743343.html

My apologies for the first link, none the less this is a very inspiring story and a country that is often overlooked. Finally good to hear a good news story for a change.

Came across a fantastic youtube video regarding New Zealand's growth and economy.

Everyone should check it out on my blog:

http://aucklandmusings.squarespace.com/journal/2011/6/24/an-optimistic-myth-busting-approach-to-new-zealand-growth.html

Jeez I really look like I want people to visit my blog lol

Here's the website for the video anyway:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhCAyIllnXY

Great stuff.

It's awesome! Makes me happy that I study Engineering! I really think New Zealand has the potential to be an economic powerhouse. We just need the right people in government.

Would be great to see that happen

So I've missed the mark by saying we should re-invest in automotive engineering and manufacturing.

So I've missed the mark by saying we should re-invest in automotive engineering and manufacturing.

if it can be done profitably sure... but isn't the private sector the place for that kind of investment? if there's a market... it will happen without any grand "we should" statements

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10736202

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10736202
^^
NZ economy tipped to have grown quickly this year


Retail activity has grown, along with manufacturing, say economists waiting for the latest GDP stats due out this week. Photo / Herald on SundayNew Zealand's economy probably grew at the fastest pace in four quarters in the first three months of 2011 as robust manufacturing and exports helped make up for the impact of Canterbury's earthquakes.

The economy expanded 0.4 per cent in the first quarter, according to a Reuters survey.

That would be the fastest since the 0.7 per cent expansion in the same quarter last year and would exceed the 0.3 per cent pace forecast in the Reserve Bank's June monetary policy statement.

Governor Alan Bollard concluded in the last MPS that the Feb. 22 quake had a smaller and more localised impact on the economy than feared. He's betting it will help drive the rebound in growth in the second half of this year, with GDP speeding to 1.2 per cent in the fourth quarter.

Manufacturing rose to its highest level in almost a year in May, based on the BNZ-Business New Zealand performance of manufacturing index.

The GDP report will show "an economy in a slightly better position than initially feared, particularly considering the disruption caused by the earthquake," said Philip Borkin, economist at Goldman Sachs & Partners New Zealand, in a report.

Economic indicators released since the central bank's June 9 report include retail sales growing more than expected in the first quarter, at 0.9 per cent based on the core measure excluding motor vehicles.

Business confidence rose to the highest level highest since before the September earthquake in June, the National Bank Business Outlook showed.

Merchandise exports rose 10 per cent to $4.63 billion in May, led by dairy, meat and timber. While the kiwi dollar reached a new post-float high against the greenback last week, the currency is some 6 per cent lower against Australia's dollar than it was this time last year, meaning exports are still relatively competitive in the nation's biggest export market.

Nick Tuffley, chief economist at ASB, expects manufacturing made the biggest contribution to GDP in the first quarter, followed by retailing and transport/communications. He tips construction to be the biggest drag on GDP.

"Over recent weeks we have been pleasantly surprised by the strength of Q1 economic data and have subsequently revised up our forecast," said Tuffley, who is expecting first-quarter GDP of 0.5 per cent.

"The data suggest the underlying economy is recovering robustly," he said in a note. "The recent lift in consumer and business confidence over Q2 suggests momentum has continued to build."

Signs of stronger manufacturing prompted some economists to conclude farmers are spending again, encouraged by strong export prices, having paid down debt.

Bollard is expected to raise the official cash rate by more than 60 basis points over the next 12 months, based on the Overnight Index Swap curve.

In the June MPS he said underlying inflation is expected to rise as economic growth picks up, which will require "a gradual increase in the OCR over the next two years."

- BusinessDesk

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/national/5231072/Govt-unveils-17b-of-spending

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/energy/news/article.cfm?c_id=37&objectid=10735537

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10736641

We had a discussion some months back about the increase in GST vs reduction in personal/corporate tax and how they were supposed to net-off.

Looks like that might be eventually happening with the GST intake up, following a trend that indicated people weren't spending, but saving.

Still volatile though, see the comments on refunds.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10736662

Interesting. I would love to know where people have found the money given skyrocketing prices in NZ. I know that my household has less free cash than ever due to electricity prices and grocery prices.

As long as this private expenditure isn't all being loaded onto credit cards due to lower APR's at the moment with many of them.

As long as this private expenditure isn't all being loaded onto credit cards due to lower APR's at the moment with many of them.

Knowing kiwis, that's entirely possible.

Its probably just a combination of people spending only slightly more than they did 12mths ago, and the additional 2.5% GST applicable for 8 of those 12mths.

www.nzherald.co.nz/NZ could be 'Silicon Valley of agricultural knowledge'

Annual inflation at 21-year high

Breaking 10:51 AM Monday Jul 18

Expand File photoNew Zealand inflation accelerated more than expected in the second quarter, on prices of fuel, food and power, increasing the prospects that the central bank will raise interest rates later this year to cool a resurgent economy.

The consumer price index rose 1 per cent in the three months ended June 30, pushing the annual rate to a 21-year high 5.3 per cent, according to Statistics New Zealand. That outpaced the 0.8 per cent quarterly and 5.1 per cent annual rate forecast by economists in a Reuters survey and is faster than the Reserve Bank had been expecting.

The CPI figures come after gross domestic product grew 0.8 per cent in the first quarter, twice the forecast pace, sending the New Zealand dollar to a new post-float high. While annual inflation was expected to peak out in the latest quarter at around 5 per cent, given the impact of one-off adjustments such as the hike in goods and services tax, today's figures suggest price pressure is becoming more widespread.

"The underlying picture is that the recessionary lull in inflation pressures is now well past," said Dominick Stephens, chief economist at Westpac Banking Corp., before the numbers were released.

"We are concerned that these kinds of outcomes will steadily erode the RBNZ's wiggle room on inflation."

Stephens predicts annual inflation will stay above 3% through this year, even after the impact of the GST hike drops out, which is stronger than the RBNZ's 2.5 per cent forecast.

The trimmed mean measures for quarterly inflation ranged from 0.8 per cent to 0.9 per cent, suggesting underlying inflation is accelerating. Some 70 per cent of the latest increase came from petrol, food, air travel and electricity.

The central bank is expected to raise the official cash rate by at least 50 basis points in the next 12 months, according to the Overnight Index Swap curve. By contrast the heat in Australia's economy, the biggest market for New Zealand goods, is coming out, and Westpac said on Friday there is a prospect that the Reserve Bank of Australia will actually cut its key rate this year.

That would narrow the gap with the RBNZ's OCR at 2.5 per cent currently and may help lift the kiwi dollar against the Australian dollar.

In the latest quarter, transport costs rose 2.7 per cent, making the biggest single contribution to CPI, with petrol prices rising 4 per cent, international air fares gaining 6.8 per cent and domestic fares up 8 per cent.

Food prices rose 1.1 per cent, paced by a 1.5 per cent gain for groceries and a 6.7 per cent increase for vegetables. Prices of tomatoes soared 64 per cent, largely reflecting supply disruptions from the Queensland floods, and lettuces gained 30 per cent.

Housing and household utilities gained 0.9 per cent, led by a 2.7 per cent gain in electricity, new housing costs rising 0.9 per cent and rental housing gaining 0.5 per cent.

Prices of new housing were influenced by increases in Christchurch and the rest of the South Island, the government statistician said.
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco declined 0.6 per cent and communications declined 1.2 per cent.

In the year, increases were driven by an 11 per cent rise in transport costs, given a 20 per cent gain in petrol, while food rose 7 per cent and housing and utilities rising 4.4 per cent.

The annual CPI increase was the largest since a 7.3 per cent annual gain in the second quarter of 1990, which also reflected a hike to GST to 12.5 per cent from 10 per cent. GST is now 15 per cent.

- BusinessDesk

Some good news

NZ economy shows surprising muscle
NZ HERALD
5:30 AM Friday Jul 15, 2011

The economy started the year with much more momentum than economists had thought, gross domestic product figures released yesterday indicate. Even with the February 22 Christchurch earthquake in the middle of it, GDP grew 0.8 per cent in the March quarter - twice a strongly as forecasters had picked. Statistics New Zealand has also revised up the GDP out-turns for the second half of last year by a cumulative 0.4 percentage points. The resulting picture is of an economy with stronger underlying growth, but also correspondingly closer to the capacity limits which could drive up prices.

The dollar jumped on the news, topping US85c during trading yesterday, up from US82.14c on Wednesday night. Bank of New Zealand economist Craig Ebert said the foreign exchange market had "sniffed the likelihood the Reserve Bank is behind the curve, and that is always a one-way bet for the currency." The combined effect of the surprisingly strong March and the revisions to 2010 suggested economic activity was about 1.5 per cent higher than the Reserve Bank had thought when it made its emergency 50 basis points cut to the official cash rate on March 10, Ebert said.

"We estimate the earthquake knocked 0.5 percentage points off March quarter growth and other 0.7 off June. Without it, growth in both quarters would have started with a '1'," he said. ANZ's head of market economics, Khoon Goh, said the stronger than expected March quarter data suggested less spare capacity in the economy than previously thought. "With the economy set to strengthen over the course of this year, an official cash rate at 2.5 per cent is on borrowed time," he said.

Even before yesterday's data most forecasters had come to the view that the Reserve Bank would start to raise interest rates before the end of the year. Manufacturing accounted for half the March quarter's jump in GDP. Aided by a favourable exchange rate with Australia, the sector's largest export market, manufacturing value-added rose 3.6 per cent, on top of a 3.4 per cent increase in the December 2010 quarter. But a more timely indicator - the BNZ Business New Zealand performance of manufacturing index - is well into expansion territory and stronger in May and June than it has been since June last year.

Agricultural activity was up 1 per cent, led by milk production. But mining fell 5.3 per cent and forestry activity slipped 0.1 per cent, though that followed a 6.1 per cent increase in the previous quarter. Construction activity fell 4.3 per cent, but in the services sector both retailing and Government activity rose 2 per cent. On the expenditure side, household consumption grew 0.4 per cent, the same modest pace as throughout last year. But within that there was a 3 per cent increase in spending on consumer durables, the largest for three years. For the March year as a whole the economy grew 1.5 per cent. But in per capita terms it is still 4 per cent smaller that at the December 2007 peak.

GROWTH SPURTS
*
0.8pc rise in gross domestic product for March quarter

*
3.6pc rise in manufacturing

*
1pc rise in agriculture

*
0.4pc rise in household consumption

*
1.5pc GDP growth for year to March

NZD > USD. Well just about, 26 year high.

0.8586

Petrol price come on down!

New Zealand economy to accelerate, even as world softens
1:45 PM Tuesday Jul 26, 2011
NZ HERALD


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3531/5823525716_d8552f4f8e_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/5823525716/)

22 MAY 11 18°C WAIHEKE ISLAND (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/5823525716/) by Urban+Explorer (http://www.flickr.com/people/eyeonauckland/), on Flickr


New Zealand economic growth will accelerate in the next year or two, despite the global economy hitting a soft patch, Westpac's latest quarterly economic review says. Westpac chief economist Dominick Stephens said it was not unusual for growth in New Zealand to 'decouple' from the global cycle. He pointed to 2001 and 2002 as an example when New Zealand enjoyed high growth while the global economy merely puttered along. "And the tables were turned last year, when we languished while the global economy steamed ahead," he said. "Being small, the New Zealand economy is sometimes buffeted by idiosyncratic developments such as local climatic conditions."

The review, published today, said New Zealand's economic recovery gained momentum in recent months, supported by high commodity prices, low interest rates and increasing confidence. While the earthquakes in Christchurch had caused massive damage, the disruption to national economic activity had been more limited than initially feared. The drivers of expected rapid acceleration in growth next year would be quite different to those of the past decade, with debt accumulation playing a lesser role, the review said. One of the most obvious drivers would be the mammoth rebuilding task in Canterbury, which was set to dominate New Zealand's economic growth profile in coming years.

Westpac economists expected residential building activity in Christchurch to begin in earnest next year, with non-residential construction ramping up in 2013. Infrastructure repair and replacement, which made up a significant chunk of the $15 billion-plus expected spend in Canterbury, was expected to grow strongly for a number of years. Residential building was expected to spread beyond Canterbury, after prolonged weakness in activity meant the supply of houses had not kept pace with population growth.

Imports of capital equipment had also soared since the start of the year, after underinvestment during the prolonged recession, the review said. "And with interest rates low, finance availability much better now than in recent years and the strong New Zealand dollar making importing capital an attractive option, conditions are ripe for substantial increase in investment." While high commodity prices were expected to soften in the second half of the year, in the medium term upward pressure would go on food prices as increasing demand for food globally outpaced rises in supply.

Despite the optimism about the New Zealand economy, the review noted international developments were providing a headwind. The outlook for the Australian economy had deteriorated, and this country's tourism sector was sure to feel a chill wind as a result, the review said. Fortunately the Rugby World Cup should provide a much needed fillip in the second half of the year. Despite improving job prospects, households would be squeezed by rapidly rising interest rates and a return to zero house price inflation in 2012. "Solid wage growth should allow households to both continue to modestly increase spending but also reduce debt."


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2521/4140510292_629762af82_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/craigsyd/4140510292/)

Skyline and friend (http://www.flickr.com/photos/craigsyd/4140510292/) by craigsydnz (http://www.flickr.com/people/craigsyd/), on Flickr


Kiwi Dollar soars to new high after Obama, Boehner speeches

The New Zealand dollar soared to a new post-float high as speeches by U.S. President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner showed no progress in lifting the debt ceiling, resulting in a sell-off of U.S. assets. The kiwi dollar climbed to 87 U.S. cents, the highest since before it was allowed to trade freely in 1985, as the greenback was pummelled and recently traded at 86.89 cents. U.S. stocks and bonds also sold off in offshore trading. The greenback dropped to a record low against the Swiss franc, a four-month low against the yen and the Dollar Index fell to the lowest since early June.

“With every day that ticks by in the lead-up to August 2 with no progress, the market remains vulnerable to selling of U.S. assets,” said Sue Trinh, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Hong Kong. Obama said in a state of the nation address televised in the U.S. that America’s fiscal deficit could inflict “serious” damage on the world’s biggest economy if the Congress can’t reach accord on raising the US$14.3 trillion debt ceiling. He described the stand off with Republicans as “a dangerous game we’ve never played before, and we can’t afford to play it now.”

Boehner blamed Obama for the stalemate in a separate televised address. The ongoing stalemate has “weighed heavily on U.S. dollar assets,” RBC’s Trinh said. Rating agencies Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings have all put the U.S.’s triple-A rating on notice of a potential downgrade. The trade-weighted index, which measures the kiwi dollar against the currencies of major trading partners, rose to 74.14 from 73.75 this morning NZ time.

New Zealand optimism surges as world wobbles
NZ HERALD
5:30 AM Thursday Jul 28, 2011

Business confidence has gone from strength to strength according to National Bank's July survey. Over the year ahead 51 per cent of firms now expect their own activity to increase while only 7 per cent expect a decline. The net 44 per cent positive reading is up five points from June. Other indicators also made gains. A net 24 per cent expect better profits, up four points from June, a net 18 per cent expect to invest more, up three points, and a net 19 per cent expect to take on additional staff, up nine points. The headline measure reflecting expectations of the general business situation, already high, firmed one point to a net 48 per cent expecting improvement.

The bank's chief economist, Cameron Bagrie, said the results were tremendously encouraging considering the background of global uncertainty, softening commodity prices (albeit from highs), firming expectations that interest rates will be moving up and a rising currency. But the survey would not have captured the political gridlock in Washington over US fiscal policy, and it would reflect only the first leg of the kiwi dollar's recent climb, he said. The bank's composite indicator drawn from the survey suggested economic growth of 4 per cent or better over the year ahead was easily within reach. But with more solidity to the growth outlook an official cash rate of 2.5 per cent was on borrowed time, Bagrie said. The Reserve Bank reviews the OCR today.

"They are going in September. They now need a reason to stop rather than a reason to go. You can see candidates for making them stop, but those are risk factors, as opposed to certainties." An emergency setting for the OCR was no longer required. "The Reserve Bank can't take rates too far. We are not talking about tightening policy. But they are too low compared with where they need to be. "Sometimes when you have a job to do, you're better to just get it done. Brace for interest rates to move up. Call it taking the official cash rate from being extraordinarily low to just exceptionally low."

Relative to its global peers New Zealand's economic story looked remarkable, Bagrie said. "The danger in such instances is that financial markets front-run the story so far, via a higher currency and higher interest rates, that one nucleus of support, namely loose financial conditions, disappears before the party has moved beyond 9pm." Relative to their long-run averages every sector is upbeat. The construction sector is the most positive overall. "Some of that is the base effect - they have had such a torrid time that the only way is up. But construction is the bellwether."

On hiring intentions the strongest increase was among manufacturers with a net 24 per cent expecting to increase staff numbers, up from a net 6 per cent last month. Construction and services also posted double-digit increases in hiring intentions. A net 29 per cent of businesses expect to raise prices. That was not overly high, nor in itself a catalyst for higher interest rates, Bagrie said. "Though with a net 50 per cent of businesses in the construction sector expecting to lift prices, the Reserve Bank's June assumption of subdued construction cost inflation looks like wishful thinking."

Goldman Sachs economist Philip Borkin said the messages for the latest survey were remarkably similar to what the same survey was suggesting between March and May last year. "Yet the pace of economic recovery over the second half of 2010 disappointed," Borkin said. "So what has changed to say that the economy will match expectations this time around? We do believe balance sheet improvement has progressed further and more positive anecdotes are now emerging from the rural sectors," he said. "Our central view is for economic activity to build momentum over the second half of this year. But at the same time, we are cautious of the downside risks still present, particularly around an unwarranted tightening in financial conditions."

Kiwi Dollar soars to new high after Obama, Boehner speeches

The New Zealand dollar soared to a new post-float high as speeches by U.S. President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner showed no progress in lifting the debt ceiling, resulting in a sell-off of U.S. assets. The kiwi dollar climbed to 87 U.S. cents, the highest since before it was allowed to trade freely in 1985, as the greenback was pummelled and recently traded at 86.89 cents. U.S. stocks and bonds also sold off in offshore trading. The greenback dropped to a record low against the Swiss franc, a four-month low against the yen and the Dollar Index fell to the lowest since early June.

“With every day that ticks by in the lead-up to August 2 with no progress, the market remains vulnerable to selling of U.S. assets,” said Sue Trinh, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Hong Kong. Obama said in a state of the nation address televised in the U.S. that America’s fiscal deficit could inflict “serious” damage on the world’s biggest economy if the Congress can’t reach accord on raising the US$14.3 trillion debt ceiling. He described the stand off with Republicans as “a dangerous game we’ve never played before, and we can’t afford to play it now.”

Boehner blamed Obama for the stalemate in a separate televised address. The ongoing stalemate has “weighed heavily on U.S. dollar assets,” RBC’s Trinh said. Rating agencies Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings have all put the U.S.’s triple-A rating on notice of a potential downgrade. The trade-weighted index, which measures the kiwi dollar against the currencies of major trading partners, rose to 74.14 from 73.75 this morning NZ time.

Off to the states in September, looks like I should change my currency now.

All in all it's good to read some positive news about the economy in the other articles.

www.nzherald.co.nz

Retail spending up as confidence returns
STUFF 11:02 25/08/2011

New Zealand retail spending grew at a faster pace than forecast in the June quarter as households felt more confident hitting the stores. The total volume of retail spending grew a seasonally adjusted 0.9 per cent in the three months ended June 30, according to Statistics New Zealand data, beating the 0.6 per cent expansion picked in a Reuters survey of economists. Stripping out motor vehicle related spending, the core figure grew 1 per cent. The value of retail spending, which accounts for both sales volume growth and price hikes, climbed 1.7 per cent in the quarter to $16.94 billion, and was 4.1 per cent ahead of the same period a year ago. The value of core retailing grew 1.4 per cent to $13.01 billion and is up 3.1 per cent from June 2010.

Earlier this month, the ANZ Roy Morgan consumer confidence survey showed people were the most optimistic they've been for seven months, and today's figures pick up on a growing trend of data showing New Zealand's economic recovery is gathering pace ahead of expectations. Of the 15 industries surveyed, 12 reported increased sales, led by a 4.9 per cent increase in the value of spending on motor vehicles and car parts rose to $2.06 billion on a 4.2 per cent increase in volumes. Supermarket and grocery store spending grew 1.6 per cent to $4.25 billion on a lift in volume of 0.2 per cent, and the value of electronic goods purchased climbed 7.2 per cent to $679 million on a 10 per cent gain in volumes.

The value of quarterly spending on fuel rose just 0.1 per cent to $1.86 billion on a 4.1 per cent decline in volume. Spending on hardware, building and garden supplies fell 1.6 per cent to $1.12 billion, non-store and commission-based retailing fell 4.7 per cent to $210 million, and specialised food spending dropped 4.3 per cent to $311 million. Though the data set doesn't drill into a regional level, it indicated spending on hardware, building and garden supplies and fuel grew significantly more in Christchurch. Wellington reported the fastest growth at a regional level at 1.8 per cent, followed by Canterbury at 1.2 per cent. Auckland was the slowed at 0.2 per cent.

Last week, Reserve Bank data showed total credit card billings grew 1 per cent to a seasonally adjusted $2.47 billion in July compared to the same month a year ago for an annual pace of 7.3 per cent growth.

The more economic and political clout we can get the better the economy will be for kiwis throughout nz :banana:

Councils join forces to boost economy

The Upper North Island Strategic Alliance includes Northland Regional Council, Whangarei District Council, Auckland Council, Waikato Regional Council, Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Hamilton City Council and Tauranga City Council.

The agreement allows the seven councils, representing a combined population of 2.3 million, to work on issues including economic development, transport and tourism.

While it has no decision-making ability, UNISA can make recommendations to the seven councils and lobby central government.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown said the challenge was to increase the contribution of the top
half of the North Island to the nation's economy.

Waikato Regional Council Chair Peter Buckley said the group would focus on specific development opportunities.

These included fish farming in the Hauraki Gulf and cross-boundary resource management issues.

But outspoken Auckland councillor Cameron Brewer said the deal was unnecessary, with the councils already meeting regularly through groups like Local Government New Zealand.

http://www.voxy.co.nz/business/dairy-pathways-survey-key-nzs-prosperity/5/109514

Dairy industry? Never heard of it

Fonterra, one of the worlds top Dairy producers is the country's only true significant multinationals, which is one of the country's top export earners. Whether Silver Fern Farms and the Wool industry, can have the same kind of success in replicating Fonterra's model remains to be seen.

http://www.ipenz.org.nz/ipenz/media_comm/documents/IPENZMineralsandPetroleumFinalDec2011.pdf

'Be grateful you live in New Zealand,' BNZ economist says

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7153/6491898993_b354355ae7_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/psundstrom/6491898993/)
Bloopin Lupins (http://www.flickr.com/photos/psundstrom/6491898993/) by Peter Sundstrom (http://www.flickr.com/people/psundstrom/), on Flickr

Be grateful you live in New Zealand because the rest of the developed world is a mess. That was the message from BNZ head of research Stephen Toplis, who gave his view of the New Zealand economy at a presentation this morning. Despite the Christchurch earthquakes, he said, "New Zealand has one of the fastest growing western economies - that's quite a remarkable performance." Meanwhile the United States and Europe is in "complete disarray". The US housing market was still showing a high level of mortgagee sales, reflecting a structural problem that would take years to resolve, and Europe faced recession and "10 years of pain" before it would fully emerge from its current crisis. Toplis said in his view the economy would continue to grow modestly despite international headwinds, with farming and construction providing most of the impetus.

While meat and dairy were enjoying good market and growing conditions, "construction will play a big part in growth over the next 12 to 18 months," he said. And it wouldn't just be the Christchurch rebuild - the construction sector was building 12,000 houses a year, but there was demand for 18,000-20,000. Non-residential activity would also be driven by the need to upgrade commercial buildings for earthquake resistance. Toplis said risks to New Zealand from Europe's problems were three-fold. Firstly, a likely recession in Europe would affect New Zealand exports, but with just 10 per cent of exports going to Europe - and most of those to the stronger economies of France and Germany - the impact would be limited. However, if Europe's recession dragged down growth in other economies such as Australia or China there would be more significant effect. But the biggest and least understood risk, said Toplis, was a transmission of financial stress from Europe to New Zealand through the banking system.

"In effect Nw Zealand banks can't borrow enough money from New Zealanders, so they look overseas. A significant portion of funding comes from Europe and the US. If that source of funding dries up it's problematic." Banks could tap money markets elsewhere or lean on the Reserve Bank, but another outcome could involve restricting lending, shrinking the bank balance sheets "and the size of the economy with it." Still, BNZ is forecasting growth in gross domestic product of 2.3 per cent next year, rising to 2.7 per cent in 2013, while unemployment is tipped to fall from 6.3 per cent this year to just 5 per cent in 2013. "Offshore developments will contine to be the bane of our lives," said Toplis. "Whatever the end result, just be thankful you live in New Zealand." We have a sound banking sector, relative political certainty, a floating exchange rate and the right exports for current global demand. "For these reasons we cling to our view that the New Zealand economy can continue to fumble its way ahead, albeit that the task is becoming more difficult by the day."

Auckland ranks in top ten Asia-Pacific Cities of the future

fDi magazine’s Asia-Pacific Cities of the Future 2011/12 survey sees Auckland ranked sixth in the Business Friendliness category and rising from 10th to seventh place in the FDI Strategy category rankings.
“Auckland’s economy is growing faster than New Zealand’s national average, our population is getting bigger, younger and more cosmopolitan”, says Clyde Rogers, General Manager Business and Sector Development for Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED).
Auckland’s strategy to attract foreign direct investment into the city is strongly reinforced by these ranking against other major Asia-Pacific cities. Currently more than 600 international companies are based in Auckland, a testament to the region’s attractiveness for foreign direct investment.
“Auckland’s ability to speak with one voice for the whole region has been a major factor in the two year result. Our vision for Auckland is driving New Zealand’s economic prosperity by leading the successful transformation of Auckland’s economy. It’s a vision for Auckland, but one with real significance for the whole country”, says Mr Rogers.
Today there are 1.4 million people living in Auckland, with population growth rates increasing by 10 per cent per annum. It is estimated that the population will reach two million in 2030. Consistent improvement of the region’s infrastructure means investing in Auckland’s future economic growth.
The foreign direct investment (FDI) futures survey is conducted across 141 Asia-Pacific cities every two years.

Omg, there's only good news on this page! :nuts:

Omg, there's only good news on this page! :nuts:

In a country so full of pessimists, this is a breath of fresh air ;)

Xmas shopping surges 4.7pc in December, big days still to come

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6138/6028186993_906b6147e5_b.jpg

Christmas retail spending looks to be going well, with a 4.7 per cent rise across New Zealand in the first 20 days of December, according to electronic payments company Paymark. Paymark , which processes around 75 per cent of all electronic transactions in New Zealand this afternoon said that just under $3 billion had been spent in shops between December 1 and December 20 - an extra $133 million on the same time period in 2010. Spending in Palmerston North was up 9 per cent from the same period last year, while South Canterbury, Southland and the Auckland/Northland regions all up.

Auckland/Northland saw retail spending increase 6.6 per cent. Where the money was being spent had not changed much since last December, said Paymark, but some were seeing good sales increases, including sports equipment store sales up 8.4 per cent, appliance stores up 7.6 per cent and home building stores up 6.1 per cent. Hospitality sector spending was up 5.1 per cent, while spending in bookstores, office supply stores and music/video outlets was down, as was toy store sales.

Paymark spokesman Ben Robinson says that though there had been "a pattern of steady and consistent growth in the last 20 days, retailers should be ready for a big push in the last three days of shopping." "With only three full days of shopping to go, we'd expect to see a bumper final stretch in true Kiwi tradition. Every year we see transactions through our system peaking just after midday on Christmas Eve, but this year it may come earlier, given that Christmas day falls on a Sunday. Friday will be interesting," said Robinson.

GDP up 0.8pc

The New Zealand economy expanded at the fastest pace since 2009 in the third quarter, beating estimates, as manufacturers cranked up production, making up for a contraction in the construction industry. Gross domestic product rose 0.8 per cent in the three months ended September 30, accelerating from a 0.1 per cent pace three months earlier, according to Statistics New Zealand. Growth of 0.6 per cent was expected, according to a Reuters survey and the Reserve Bank. GDP grew 1.9 per cent from the same quarter last year.

Manufacturing activity rose 2.3 per cent in the latest quarter, led by production of meat, dairy , wood and paper products though this was matched by a build-up in inventories that some economists say could undermine economic growth in coming months. Total inventories climbed by $1.1 billion, driven by manufacturing and distribution stocks, the biggest increase since the series began in June 1987. The manufacturing story "is largely about inventory build-up and that doesn't bode too well for the fourth quarter," Philip Borkin, economist at Goldman Sachs New Zealand, said before the figures were released.

The Bank of New Zealand Performance Manufacturing Index for November fell to 45.7 from 46.6 in October on a scale where 50 marks the difference between contraction and expansion. Production fell to 43.6 in the latest month while inventories grew, with a reading of 51.2. Separately, the Economic Survey of Manufacturing for the third quarter showed a jump in inventories, especially for meat and dairy. Retail, accommodation and restaurants rose 2.5 per cent in the third quarter, the biggest gain since the March 2007 quarter, and the government statistician said this partly reflected the Rugby World Cup.

Finance, insurance and business services grew 0.6 per cent, the fourth straight quarterly increase. Construction fell 2.2 per cent to its weakest quarterly level since June 2002, creating the biggest drag on growth in the latest quarter. Fletcher Building, the nation's biggest construction company, warned that first-half profit would drop 10 per cent and full-year earnings growth would stall in the face of weak housing construction in Australia and New Zealand.

Boxing Day spending up 6.9% on last year

Boxing Day spenders were out in force yesterday with transaction figures up 6.9 per cent this year compared with last year. Just under $106 million was spent across the country yesterday, figures released today by electronics transaction company Paymark reveal. Shopping malls around the country were packed out yesterday, with roads around The Base mall in Hamilton gridlocked, while Westfield Albany, St Lukes and Westgate had the busiest day of the year.

Auckland's Sylvia Park also reported slightly bigger crowds than last year with between 60,000 and 70,000 going through the doors. December as a whole had been a good month for retailers, with steady growth across most sectors and regions, Paymark sales and marketing head Paul Whiston said. "The growth is not as high as we saw a few years back, which suggests perhaps that we've found a level of stability in the wider Christmas shopping period.

"Growth of 6.9 per cent across the country is a good positive end to the year for retailers however," he said. Steady growth across the month of December might have been assisted by a vast number of big sales and heavy discounts across longer periods of time than in previous years. Wellington's Boxing Day spending was up 11.6 per cent on last year - the largest increase in the country. Hawke's Bay spending was down 2.8 per cent - the largest drop in the country. The clothing and building/trade sectors experienced the biggest surges this year.

NZ GDP may be up 0.8% but still a long way to go its ranked
52 in the world by IMF (140,509 US billion)and 53 by world bank behind Peru and Kazakhstan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

To be fare Kazakhstan has bucket loads of oil and gas.

NZ GDP may be up 0.8% but still a long way to go its ranked
52 in the world by IMF (140,509 US billion)and 53 by world bank behind Peru and Kazakhstan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

None-the-less it is unlike your reply - very positive!

NZ GDP may be up 0.8% but still a long way to go its ranked
52 in the world by IMF (140,509 US billion)and 53 by world bank behind Peru and Kazakhstan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

Not too bad considering NZ is 122 in the population rankings.
Kazakhstan had 4x the population of NZ and Peru 7x

I don't understand why you would post that list.
Surely per capita nominal or PPP would be more relevant.

Not too bad considering NZ is 122 in the population rankings.
Kazakhstan had 4x the population of NZ and Peru 7x

I don't understand why you would post that list.
Surely per capita nominal or PPP would be more relevant.

Exactly, NZ's quality of life etc. is also much higher.

Quality of life:
NZ = 15th
Peru = 53rd
Kazakhstan = 93rd

Human Development Index:
NZ = 5th
Kazakhstan = 68th
Peru = 80th

There is no competition ;)

Not too bad considering NZ is 122 in the population rankings.
Kazakhstan had 4x the population of NZ and Peru 7x

I don't understand why you would post that list.
Surely per capita nominal or PPP would be more relevant.

Indeed, the list is totally meaningless if it is not per capita.

Here is a list per capita if anyone interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita

33 New Zealand 27,130

The ranking is much better on this list above, we could possibly see Greece fall below NZ in the years ahead its currently 31 as its economy tanks.

Wattie's sauce coming back to NZ from Aussie
Wattie's tomato sauce is as Kiwi as a pavlova - except it's been made in Australia for the past decade.

Soon, however, the "Made in Australia" tag on the plastic squeeze bottle will change to "Made in New Zealand".

Manufacturer Heinz Wattie is returning production of its tomato sauce to the original Wattie's home in Hastings, 11 years after it took it across the ditch to north Victoria.

"Economies of scale" was behind the return to a bigger factory in Hastings than the one at Goulburn Valley, rather than lower labour costs or a favourable exchange rate, Heinz Wattie spokesman Paul Hemsley said.

The plan to close the Victoria plant was announced last May.

Production of beetroot, sauce toppings and some canned meals is also being moved across the Tasman to Hawke's Bay.

Mr Hemsley could not put a figure on just how many jobs would be created.

But last year Heinz Wattie regional chief executive Nigel Comer said: "While a small number of new positions will be created, the Hastings facilities have the infrastructure to absorb the additional volumes into current operations."

The move would add 30,000 tonnes to the Hastings factory's output, an increase of between 10 and 15 per cent.

The Hastings factory, which already employs 500 fulltime and 800 seasonal workers, will supply Heinz and Wattie's tomato sauces for both New Zealand and Australia.

Although production was being brought to New Zealand to make better use of a bigger plant, Mr Hemsley would not say yesterday whether sauce prices will fall.

Tins of Wattie's tomato sauce make up about 60 per cent of sales in New Zealand.

Tomato paste from California and Portugal will be used in making tomato sauce in New Zealand, as it has been in Australia. "While New Zealanders think we grow everything brilliantly here, it is about available land for production," Mr Hemsley said.

Heinz Wattie had revenues of more than $735 million in New Zealand in the last financial year.

It made a profit of more than $83m, up from $72m the year before. Heinz, with global sales of US$10.7 billion a year, bought Wattie's 20 years ago for about US$300m.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/business/6211948/Watties-sauce-coming-back-to-NZ-from-Aussie

Not so sure of this is such a good thing ;) ...

December completes positive year for new vehicle sales (http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/december-completes-positive-year-new-vehicle-sales-ne-107534)

December retail spending rises 3.4%, Paymark says

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7151/6645142721_8ec66788da_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/6645142721/)
06 JAN 12 25°C (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/6645142721/) by Urban+Explorer (http://www.flickr.com/people/eyeonauckland/), on Flickr

New Zealanders spent about $4.6 billion on their debit and credit cards in December, up about 3.4 percent from the same month of 2010, which bodes well for 2012, says Paymark. Gains were led by a 9.2 percent increase in discretionary spending, including clothing and footwear and growth in the building and home improvements sector, up 5 percent for the month, the strongest growth recorded last year, said Paymark, which processes 75 percent of the nation’s electronic transactions.

“2011 was a tough year for retailers, with all kinds of local and global factors affecting business – it is encouraging to see a bit of positivity with higher discretionary spending in the latter part of the year,” said Ben Robinson, a Paymark spokesman. “Signs of more discretionary spending bode well for the future even if the trend is patchy across sectors and across regions at present.”

Spending growth was strongest in Palmerston North, up 7.7 percent, followed by South Canterbury on 6.5 percent, while weak annual growth rates were recorded in Canterbury on -0.9 percent and Marlborough on -0.8 percent. Debit cards remained the dominate payment type in 2011, with 701 million transactions despite the overall growth rate slowing to 3.6 percent. Credit card’s surpassed debit card usage in December accelerating 0.7 percent from 0.2 percent in the same month of 2010.

Rugby World Cup aftermath positive for hotel business

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7165/6483389435_184ea412f5_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/6483389435/)
09 DEC 11 24°C (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/6483389435/) by Urban+Explorer (http://www.flickr.com/people/eyeonauckland/), on Flickr

The strong media coverage of New Zealand during the Rugby World Cup has begun to pay dividends for the accommodation industry, with room occupancy and bookings better than the same period last year. Bookings for Best Western hotels from November-December 2011 were up almost 40% on the same period last year.

Kimi Anderson, General Manager of Sales and Marketing for Best Western Australasia said, “The surge in bookings is a positive sign for accommodation and tourism operators. Despite the tragic natural disasters suffered by some parts of the country, visitors are still keen to travel to New Zealand and experience all that this beautiful country has to offer”.

Not so sure of this is such a good thing ;) ...

December completes positive year for new vehicle sales (http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/december-completes-positive-year-new-vehicle-sales-ne-107534)

Not very good considering Oz had over one million

Not very good considering Oz had over one million

I wasn't even considering comparing apples with pears ;)

Luxury vehicle industry defies recession


Official figures show sales of luxury brands such as Bentley, BMW, Porsche and Ferrari grew by more than 8 per cent last year. Audi was the biggest seller with 1319 sales, followed by BMW with 1213 and Mercedes-Benz on 969. Italian speedsters generally held their ground, with a total of 11 new Ferraris, five Lamborghinis and 20 Maseratis taking to New Zealand roads. Jeff Gray BMW dealer principal Jason Broome said sales had been slow during the Rugby World Cup and the general election, "but we have seen a definite pickup in the market in December".

Big price cuts and cheaper entry-level models had made luxury cars accessible to a wider range of buyers and more competitive with Japanese makers. "Ten years ago you couldn't buy a BMW for under $80,000. Now you can buy one for almost half that price." Armstrong Prestige general manager Pat Conneely said an Audi A3 diesel sold for under $50,000, only about $5000 more than a competing Toyota Corolla. "The new car prices of new European cars has never been so good." While 2008 was a difficult year at the height of the global financial crisis, the past three years had been good, Mr Conneely said.

"What I have noticed is that, during the recession, there have been a lot of new people that have made some money." Mr Broome said women were also becoming more influential in choosing the family vehicle. "When a family are looking at spending a large amount of money, irrespective of who earns the money in the household, both parties were in consideration." Both BMW and Porsche were counting on new models due out this year to boost sales. Armstrong Prestige has already pre-sold three of the new model Porsche 911 sports cars, worth an expected $200,000, sight unseen ahead of the next month's launch.

At the pinnacle of motoring, Rolls-Royce sold two new Ghost models last year. Brand manager Neil D'Arcy-Brain was aiming to sell eight cars worth between $565,000 for the "day-to-day" Ghost and $845,000 for the flagship Phantom from the Auckland showroom this year.

LUXURY MOTORING

ROLLS-ROYCE PHANTOM – $845,000

This is the pinnacle of motoring, almost entirely hand-crafted with the interior customised and equipped with whatever the buyer desires.

PORSCHE 911 – about $200,000

A new version of this classic German sportscar rockets from 0-to-100kmh in 4.5 seconds. Leather interior with touchscreen navigation and Bose sound system.

AUDI A8 – $229,500

Features radar cruise control that automatically maintains a distance from the car in front.

BMW 760li – $380,000

BMW's flagship model has a massive 6-litre, V12 petrol engine to propel passengers in the lap of luxury.

http://www.voxy.co.nz/business/getting-back-upon-sheeps-back/5/112203

Economic strength behind NZ's triple-A rating: Moody's

New Zealand's Aaa sovereign credit rating with Moody's Investors Service is underpinned by the nation's economic strength and low vulnerability to event risk, the rating agency said yesterday. Moody's said the Government's fiscal and debt positions were very strong, and any threats from the nation's high level of private debt was mitigated by the fact that the majority of those liabilities are held by the nation's Australian-owned banks. Still, New Zealand's total external liabilities equalling 159 per cent of gross domestic product is the nation's biggest vulnerability, and prompted downgrades by rival rating agencies Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings at the end of September.

"A strong fiscal framework, which has supported the successful track record of fiscal prudence under governments of both major political parties, provides some assurance that the budget balance will return to surplus by the middle of the decade," Moody's said. "The negative net international investment position has been large for many years without substantially affecting the Government's finances." The Government has worked to keep its net debt below 30 per cent of GDP, even as it borrowed a record $20 billion last financial year, and Moody's said it was set to peak below the average ratio of other triple-A rated nations.

The rating agency noted New Zealand's rising vulnerability to earthquakes after the temblors in Canterbury caused upwards of an estimated $20 billion in damage. Investors rallied to New Zealand government debt in the first sale on Tuesday, with short-term bills attracting bids worth three times the $1.48 billion sold. The rating agency's credit analysis had little impact on the market.

Not very good considering Oz had over one million

Not to bad though, Norway had 118,000 registrations, but we bought significantly more high end vehicles in NZ.

Another good news story.

NZ 'likely Texas of the south'
An oil exploration company wants to turn the East Coast into the "Texas of the south", writing of the potential to build thousands of oil wells in the largely untouched region of New Zealand.

TAG Oil, which recently sparked controversy by expanding its operations in Taranaki, has told investors in North America the East Coast is "literally leaking oil and gas".

The comments are made in a document the company presented to investors in North America in December.

The 28-page paper – titled TAG Oil: 2011 – A Record Year, which the Sunday Star-Times obtained last week – said the company had identified 1.7 million acres (687,966ha) of "conventional and unconventional targets" on the East Coast of the North Island. There was potential for "billions of barrels" of oil.

"Thousands of sections of land provide potential for thousands of wells," the document said. "East Coast Basin is literally leaking oil and gas."

One of the company's business goals in 2012 was "New Zealand land acquisitions", it said.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/6258561/NZ-likely-Texas-of-the-south

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/east-coast-literally-leaking-oil-and-gas-4688478/video

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10778983

Not to bad though, Norway had 118,000 registrations, but we bought significantly more high end vehicles in NZ.

Really? I guess NZ isn't so bad in comparison.

Great news about the oil

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/business/6261859/Quake-rebuild-to-boost-growth

Kiwis seem to be fairly pragmatic and unlike our more optimistic cousins across in Australia haven't really factored in what a resource boom could mean. As I have been long predicting, the country is long overdue for a resource boom, most Kiwis really don't believe it will happen.

Hopefully the greens and the maori's don't fuck it up for the rest of us if there is an oil boom in NZ.

Time to start up a new state owned oil company to get in on the action just like Norway, otherwise we can kiss good bye to any significant monetary benefits, but it won't happen under National.

NZ’s trade account turns to surplus in December

http://bostinno.com/wp-content/uploads//2011/10/sales-graph.jpg

New Zealand reported a trade surplus in December as exports of milk powder, butter and cheese reached records. The trade balance was a surplus of $338 million in the month of December, Statistics New Zealand said. This compared to a median forecast of a $100 million deficit in a survey by Reuters. The surplus compared to a deficit of $307 million in November, which was originally reported as a deficit of $308 million. The value of exports rose 13 percent to $4.3 billion in December from the same month a year earlier, while imports fell 1.6 percent to $4 billion.

“Milk powder, butter and cheese exports reached a record high in December 2011, up $329 million to $1.4 billion. “This increase was led by exports of unsweetened whole milk powder, which also reached a new high, up $171 million, or 37 percent, with quantities up 30 percent,” Statistic New Zealand said. The annual trade balance was a surplus of $1.1 billion. Exports to Australia increased 30 percent, but imports from the US decreased 39 percent, mainly due to the importing of a large aircraft in December a year earlier. There was a trade surplus of $698 million in the December quarter.

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Job growth continues positive trend

The number of jobs grew in the year to October, marking 18 consecutive months of annual positive trending. Statistics New Zealand's national employment indicator showed that while the number of filled jobs held by wage and salary earners remained relatively flat in October, it was up on the previous year. The number of seasonally adjusted filled jobs dropped 0.2 per cent compared with September 2011, but climbed 0.9 per cent from October 2010. ''Since the significant increase in August 2011, we have seen two months of little change in the number of filled jobs,'' industry and labour statistics manager Diane Ramsay said.

''However, the annual increase shows that there are more jobs filled than there were in October 2010.'' The 0.9 per cent rise from October 2010 represents an extra 17,000 jobs being filled over the course of the year. Prior to the 18 straight months of positive year-on-year job growth, the market had experienced consistent negative growth for almost the same length of time. Negative growth reached a peak in November 2009, when there was a 4.2 per cent drop in jobs from the same month the previous year. The national employment indicator, which is published monthly, uses Inland Revenue Department tax information to measure changes in the total number of filled jobs.

Building consents jump but remain unimpressive
Home building consents jumped 13 per cent in December from the same month in 2010, but 2011 was still the worst year for building since records began in 1965.

Housing approvals in December 2011 totalled 1127, including apartments. That was up 13 per cent on the previous December, but that month in 2010 was the lowest December figure in the 46-year history of the series, Statistics NZ said.

''Most of the increase in housing approvals for December 2011 was concentrated in Auckland, Wellington, and Canterbury, with many of the other regions showing small falls,'' industry and labour statistics manager Louise Holmes-Oliver said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/6340374/Building-consents-jump-but-remain-unimpressive

IThomas, thank you for that infographic - was nice to see exports exceeding imports! Must be doing something right then aka China!

New vehicle sales start 2012 on a high

Motor Trade Association (MTA) says the new vehicle market started 2012 on a high, due mainly to the strongest passenger car sales for a single month since January 2008. Commenting, MTA spokesperson Ian Stronach, Marketing and Communications General Manager said “While January traditionally provides a strong start to the year, this is even better than most had predicted. A combination of good product availability and some aggressive marketing campaigns has obviously made January a good time to buy.” Figures just released by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) show that in January 2012, 8,681 new vehicles were sold compared to 6,476 in December 2011, an increase of 2,205 units (34 percent). Compared to January 2011, overall sales were up by 1,158 units (15 percent).

The strong start to the year was led by new passenger car sales of 7,499 units which was up by a massive 2,173 units (41 percent) compared to December 2011. Sales were also up by 1,289 units (21 percent) compared to January 2011. New commercial vehicle sales were more subdued however. Sales of 1,182 units were just 30 units (3 percent) ahead of December 2011 but down 131 units (10 percent) compared to January 2011. Stronach said “While there was a certain familiarity to the performances of some models and makes, the market is continuing to evolve. As we have seen, there are significant changes happening to the make-up of the market; traditional segments are being replaced with new types of vehicles, and the old order no longer holds sway. 2012 will continue to demonstrate these changes – it’s all part of the dynamic nature of the market and customer outlook.”

Toyota continued where it left off in 2011, easily leading the sales race for passenger cars; its 1,740 sales gave it top spot and a 23 percent share of the market. Some way behind in second spot was Holden with 794 sales and an 11 percent share with Hyundai taking third place with sales of 780 units and a 10 percent share of the market. Once again Toyota Corolla led the way in terms of individual model sales with 828 units, followed by Suzuki Swift with 382 units and Hyundai i30 with 312 units. Toyota Hiace was the leading commercial vehicle with sales of 132 units, followed by Ford Ranger with 95 units which just headed off Nissan Navara on 94 units.

In the first month of a restricted supply environment, sales of first time used imported passenger cars were predictably soft. Sales of 6,375 units were down 1,129 units (15 percent) compared to December 2011, and 693 units (10 percent) compared to January 2011. Despite what has so far been an average summer, the road-going motorcycle market had one of its best months for some time. Sales of 614 units were 80 units (15 percent) ahead of December 2011 and 107 units (21 percent) ahead of January 2011. The largest share of the market went to smaller (less than 250cc) machines, with Suzuki’s GN125H enjoying particular success with sales of 69 units for an 11 percent share of the total market!

Barfoots has strongest January since 2007

Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson said on Friday the agency had its strongest January performance in 5 years. “We sold more properties in the month than we have since 2007, prices reached their highest average ever for the month, new listings were up 15.1% and we sold double the number of million dollar homes than we did last January.” “The seasonal dip in activity that occurs each year as a result of the Christmas, New Year & annual holiday breaks was present in the trading figures, but on every key measure this January was significantly ahead of that for January last year. “The average sales price at $529,768 was up 2.7%, sales numbers at 683 were up 21.3% and new listings at 1031 were up 15.1%.

“In January, sales of homes at the top end of the market tend to be quieter than in other months, with many buyers & sellers being away on holiday. However, this January we sold 40 homes in excess of $1 million, which is exceptional. We have not sold that many homes in that price category in a January since the peak year of 2007. “Homes valued at a million dollars & above are subject to different market drivers than the rest of the market, and we anticipate demand for high-end homes to remain strong. “At the end of January we had 4766 properties listed. While 4% higher than the number at the end of December, it was the lowest number we have had at this time of the year for 4 years. Limited choice has been a feature of the market for the past 7 months.” Mr Thompson said the outlook for housing in the first quarter of 2012 was for a continuation of the trading pattern for the second half of 2011, which saw gradual & modest increases in prices, with the number of homes sold monthly remaining in a band of 7-900 properties.

Awesome news

Excellent find IThomas.

Just imagine how much better those numbers will be if we get more investment in the resources sector.

IThomas, thank you for that infographic - was nice to see exports exceeding imports! Must be doing something right then aka China!

Excellent find IThomas.
Just imagine how much better those numbers will be if we get more investment in the resources sector.

Thanks. Is a pleasure to share good news! :)

Interesting facts....thanks for sharing.

The New Zealand cut its outlook for Europe's fault.
The European crisis is felt even in far New Zealand, which is experiencing adverse conditions and has been forced to cut its outlook. The New Zealand Treasury has had to admit that they are increasing the downside risks to the economy, whose conditions are close to what is expected from the worst-case scenario outlined in mid-October, when it was published pre-election report.

The European Union's fate is tied to the euro. It must be said that if Angela Merkel is of tops the list of the powerful of the old continent and the French Nicolas Sarkozy may claim the status of the most energetic leaders, the Italian Mario Monti is the most interesting, because it should bode well for general measures (restoring market confidence and reinvigorate growth through structural reforms), in order to avoid a possible default of the Bel Paese.
If the third largest economy in the Euro zone will fail to record a credible economic progression, the euro will have no future as a pan-European project.

But in Europe there are other problems. The outline of the ECB, under Mario Draghi, not a permanent solution, but gave the politicians space to negotiate the precious tax settlement of Merkel. If Greece really fail, so Ireland, Portugal and Spain are under fire.
The challenge facing Europe, crystallized from its currency crisis, is to adapt to a world where you can no longer dictate the terms of trade. The big question is whether Europe can compete in a world which the West has lost control. And you also must also hope for his resistance.

The worst case scenario assumed by the New Zealand Treasury expects to significantly increase the risk adversity of financial operators, globally, an increase in funding costs and a protracted global recession. In short, a catastrophic picture, which is incompatible with the hopeful signs recently arrived from economic institutions and by EU leaders.

If the worst case scenario were to materialize, the New Zealand Treasury had expected a more modest growth of 2.5% until 2013, rather than the 3.4% assumed in the best conditions. The current account deficit should instead to remain at 4.6% and 3.6%, while unemployment could reach a level of 6.3% instead of 5.2%.

NZ annual jobs growth 'broadly positive', jobless rate falls to 6.3pc

New Zealand's annual jobs growth shows the economy is moving in the right direction, with the unemployment rate falling to a 21-month low on a sharp rise in the number of part-time workers. The unemployment rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 6.3 per cent in the three months ended Dec. 31, from 6.6 per cent the prior quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand's household labour force survey. That's more than the 6.5 per cent rate picked in a Reuters survey of economists, and was bolstered by a 3 per cent rise in part-timers to 517,000 and a 0.2 percentage point decline in the participation rate to a 12-month low 68.2 per cent.

The number of people employed rose 0.1 per cent to 2.221 million in the December quarter, missing the 0.4 per cent growth forecast in the Reuters survey, and has grown 1.6 per cent on an annual basis. "The trend is broadly positive, and suggests the economy is pushing forward," said Bank of New Zealand economist Doug Steel. "It gives us some confidence this trend will continue." The falling headline jobless rate masked a 0.8 per cent decline in full-time workers to 1.703 million, the lowest number since December 2010, and a 1.4 per cent fall in the total weekly hours worked to 74.3 million. The number of people not in the labour force rose to 1.107 million in the quarter from 1.095 million in the September period.

BNZ's Steel said the quarterly movements in the underlying data were within the error of margin. The data follows Tuesday's quarterly employment survey, which showed 0.6 per cent growth in full-time equivalent (FTE) positions to 1.34 million, and a 0.5 per cent rise in total filled jobs to 1.7 million. Last month, the Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index showed the number of people pessimistic about the labour market outnumbered optimists for the first time since June 2009, though business confidence surveys show firms are more upbeat about their hiring intentions in the coming year. Retail trade and accommodation staff numbers rose to 335,500 in the quarter from 324,900 the prior period, while manufacturing jobs increased to 256,000 from 244,700.

Statistics New Zealand introduced a new series for youth aged 15 to 24 not in employment, education or training (NEET), which rose 0.7 percentage points to 13.1 per cent in the December quarter. As a comparison, the NEET rate was between 10.2 per cent and 12 per cent from March 2004 and December 2008, peaking at 15.4 per cent in December 2009. Youth joblessness improved for 20- to 24-year-olds, with the unemployment rate falling to 11.9 per cent from 12.2 per cent, though the 15- to 19-year-old jobless rate rose to 24.2 per cent from 23.4 per cent.

The Taranaki region showed a marked improvement in employment, with the jobless rate falling to 3.8 per cent, the lowest in the country, form 5.2 per cent in the September quarter. Wellington unemployment rose to 7.2per cent in the December period from 6 per cent. The Bay of Plenty and Northland regions had the worst rate at 8.3 per cent. New Zealand's unemployment rate was 12th lowest among developed economies, behind Israel's 5.6 per cent but ahead of the Czech Republic's 6.7 per cent.

http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/nz-tipped-developed-world-s-top-performer-4717191

http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/nz-tipped-developed-world-s-top-performer-4717191

Whilst I like positive articles, this is a big pile of steaming turd. How the heck can you predict 40 years into the future? They couldn't even foresee this current financial mess. Sorry, but long term extrapolations like this are nonsensical given the propensity for the world stage to change. 40 years ago the USSR still existed, the Vietnam war was still raging, South Africa still had Apartheid, the moon landing had just happened etc. etc. etc. I wonder how well they predicted how the world would look now. Judging from some of the predictions made in the 1960's of what the world would look like, not very well.

I don't know what decade specifically, I do have a feeling NZ is in for a boom of some description, possibly driven by mining, oil and a combination of factors.

Whilst I like positive articles, this is a big pile of steaming turd. How the heck can you predict 40 years into the future? They couldn't even foresee this current financial mess. Sorry, but long term extrapolations like this are nonsensical given the propensity for the world stage to change. 40 years ago the USSR still existed, the Vietnam war was still raging, South Africa still had Apartheid, the moon landing had just happened etc. etc. etc. I wonder how well they predicted how the world would look now. Judging from some of the predictions made in the 1960's of what the world would look like, not very well.

Have to agree with you for once here Svartmetall.Ha ha just amazing how they believe all these emerging economies will somehow get their act together and the world will be such a rosy place.I mean we could have some serious wars,natural disasters or aliens could attack and things could get worse.What's particularly interesting is that they believe commodities will still be the main driver of our economy and in the entire 40 year period we have failed to diversify.Very naive indeed.

Auckland houses selling fast

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6220/6342851803_5ea9433a0d_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/6342851803/)
13 NOV 11 18°C (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/6342851803/) by Urban+Explorer (http://www.flickr.com/people/eyeonauckland/), on Flickr

Auckland homeowners are finding buyers for their properties faster than anywhere else in the country, with house sales up 27 per cent in January from a year earlier. The latest Real Estate Institute of New Zealand data shows Auckland residential properties sold in just 37 days on average. This compares to houses spending 60 days on the market in Wellington and 63 days in Waikato. Canterbury properties not suffering earthquake damage were also in high demand, selling in only 39 days. "The Auckland region remains one of the strongest in the country with rising trends for both prices and volumes, and days to sell continuing to improve. The increasing popularity of auctions is indicative of an increasingly robust market," REINZ chief executive Helen O'Sullivan said.

"Anecdotal evidence suggests an increasing shortage of listings and increasing preference for auctions by sellers. Agents are also reporting a noticeable pick up in buyer interest. " Auctions accounted for 11.2 per cent of all sales in Auckland in January. Adjusting for seasonal factors - the first month of the year typically has fewer auctions with buyers on holiday - REINZ estimated one in every four houses in Auckland is now sold at auction. There were 1421 houses sold in Auckland in January, up from 1115 a year earlier. However it was down from 1826 properties that changed hands in December.

"North Shore and those parts of the region outside the metropolitan area fared best." The median average house sale price in all of Auckland according to REINZ was $471,000 last month, down from $484,375 a year earlier and after hitting record highs in November. In the central city area, the median average price was $486,000 up from compared to $546,500 in North Shore which was down from $575,000 in December. The median average sale price in Rodney was $456,450 last month, $480,000 in Manukau and Waitakere came out the most affordable with houses selling for a median average of $387,250.

Record net profit thanks to resilient NZ economy, says ASB

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6023/6010809098_3e5704984a_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/6010809098/)
31 JUL 11 15 °C (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/6010809098/) by Urban+Explorer (http://www.flickr.com/people/eyeonauckland/), on Flickr

ASB Bank said a resilient New Zealand economy and low levels of bad debt helped the bank to achieve a record statutory net profit of $372 million for the first half to December 31. The result was a 31.4 per cent improvement on the same period a year earlier, but the bank warned that the outlook for the second half would be clouded by Europe's economic woes. A positive $48 million adjustment in the fair value of its derivatives, which the bank is obliged to do under "marked to market" accounting rules, was a factor behind the big increase in the headline profit number. Excluding these movements from both periods, the statutory net profit would have grown by 12.9 per cent.

Asked if she expected to see a backlash over the bank's high earnings, ASB chief executive Barbara Chapman said: "The profit as a headline number does look large, but you do need to put that into a New Zealand context and we are very large businesses. "Our return that we provide on assets of around 1 per cent is not enormous, and there are not many businesses that operate on those sorts of returns ... in any sector." Chapman said ASB's performance was influenced by a combination of factors, including healthy revenue growth and productivity gains. "More broadly, the strong result should also be seen in the context of the current low credit growth environment, which has seen constrained growth in lending and balance sheet size," she said.

Contributing to the performance was a fall in impairment losses of 61.1 per cent to $14 million compared with the same period last year, as a consequence of improving asset quality over all sectors, including business lending. David Tripe, senior lecturer at Massey University's Centre for Banking Studies, said ASB's impairment loss was "incredibly low" and the first half's profit performance would be difficult to replicate in the second. "It is unlikely that that level of profitability is sustainable because of the impact of the fair value adjustments, and it looks as though bad debt expenses are unusually low," he said. ASB said a factor in its result was the ongoing trend among homeowners to switch from fixed to floating-rate home loans.

Chapman said the main area of resilience was in the business banking markets. She pointed to Reserve Bank data which showed business borrowing for 2011 was up 1.7 per cent compared with a 2.5 per cent fall in 2010 and an 8 per cent drop in 2009. The ASB's net interest margin - the difference between what it costs the bank to borrow money and what it lends it out at - rose by 0.15 per cent to 2.19 per cent. Meanwhile ASB's parent company, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which has attracted negative press for raising interest rates despite an unchanged official cash rate, reported a statutory net profit of A$3.62 billion ($4.63 billion) for the six months - up 19 per cent.

Retail sales beat expectations

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Sylvia Park Shopping Center (http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_speedracer/5841048239/) by Πichael C. (http://www.flickr.com/people/michael_speedracer/), on Flickr

Retail sales were unexpectedly strong in the last quarter of 2011. In dollar terms sales rose 2 per cent from the September quarter, the fourth consecutive quarter of strong growth, Statistics New Zealand said. Core sales, which exclude car yards and petrol stations, rose 2.3 per cent seasonally adjusted, driven by supermarkets and grocery stores, food and beverage services, department stores, and electrical and electronic goods stores. Compared with the same period in 2010 sales overall were up 6.6 per cent and 7.5 per cent higher in the core sector. When adjusted for price changes - mainly falls - real sales were up 2.2 per cent overall, following a 2.4 per cent increase in the September quarter, and up 2.9 per cent for core retailing, the largest increase since that statistical series began in 1995. The figures were stronger than economists had expected or than electronic card transactions - which declined in both November and December - had foreshadowed.

Just over half the quarter's increase in sales was among food, drink and hospitality providers. These had also recorded strong gains in the September quarter and in both periods were much stronger than had been indicated by the electronic card data. Economists see that as indicating a boost from Rugby World Cup visitors, and a higher than usual proportion of cash transactions. "However, unlike in the September quarter, there were also strong gains in the durable goods categories," Westpac economist Michael Gordon said. Electronic goods were up 10.1 per cent in real terms, with firms citing smartphone sales in particular, while furniture was up 7.6 per cent, department stores up 7.2 per cent and hardware and building supplies up 2.5 per cent.

"In most of these cases, volume growth was helped by falling prices, particularly a 3 per cent drop for electronics, partly due to the lagged effect of the New Zealand dollar's gains through last year," Gordon said. Bank of New Zealand economist Craig Ebert said international forces had had a strong role in delivering higher sales volumes, "whether Queensland's weather in respect to food, the plunging price of electronic goods and technology globally, or the overall strength in the New Zealand dollar". It was the other side of the coin of the consumers price index falling 0.3 per cent in the quarter. "It's not as though real demand is weak and needs to be maintained by discounting.

Not with annual growth in the region of 6 to 8 per cent." Ebert expects sales volumes to fall by around 0.5 per cent in the current quarter as the World Cup impact drops out of the figures. "However, unless there is a massive correction, we're left with a level of real retail spending that far exceeds what all and sundry seemed to be expecting not so long ago." ASB economist Daniel Smith said the continued recovery in retail spending was very encouraging, particularly as the sector had borne the brunt of the recession. "The continued recovery in the labour market should underpin an improvement in consumer confidence. We expect this will flow through to a continued recovery in household spending over 2012, albeit at a more gradual pace."

NZ cities among world's most costly
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6198/6085252124_3e248dee04_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sxbaird/6085252124/)
Auckland City, New Zealand (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sxbaird/6085252124/) di stewartbaird (http://www.flickr.com/people/sxbaird/), su Flickr

Wellington and Auckland have become among the most expensive cities in the world for expatriates to live in. But local residents may have gained some benefit from the key factor behind the rise in costs to new arrivals - the strengthening of the New Zealand dollar. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) latest Worldwide Cost of Living survey, Auckland is now the 15th costliest city in the world, up from 24th previously, while Wellington rose 16 places to be equal 17th with London. The index measures the cost of an expatriate lifestyle in over 130 cities using a weighted average of the prices of 160 products and services. EIU editor Jon Copestake said the cost of living in Auckland and Wellington had doubled for expatriates in the past decade. New Zealanders would not have noticed that sort of rise, although they might have noticed living costs "creeping up", Copestake told Radio NZ. Supply side inflation pushing up the cost of living in the past few years had fed into many economies. "But the main issue here is currency movement. It seems that the New Zealand dollar and the Australian dollar have become haven currencies. They've had a lot of investment in them over the last few years. And this is what's really driven the rise up the rankings for New Zealand and Australian cities," Copestake said. "People coming into New Zealand will see the relative cost of living much higher. I think in fact, in a sense, there's a benefit to Wellington and Auckland people in that they might actually see the cost of imports going down because things will become relatively cheaper in other currencies, and they will actually find maybe the cost of travelling abroad slightly cheaper." While there were advantages in that respect, the two cities were becoming uncompetitive in price terms. But Copestake also identified another reason for residents of Auckland and Wellington to relax, pointing to an apparent growing correlation between being an expensive city internationally, and being ranked among the most liveable cities. "So in a sense, the fact that there's a high cost of living in Wellington and Auckland is probably also partly reflected in the high liveability you can enjoy in those cities." The EIU living costs survey ranked Sydney in seventh place, Melbourne eighth, Perth 12th, Brisbane 13th and Adelaide 17th. For the first time in at least two decades, Zurich topped the rankings, moving up four places compared to last year to overtake Tokyo which remained in 2nd place. Geneva, the other Swiss city surveyed, moved up six places into joint third alongside Osaka. Both Japan and Switzerland had seen strong currency movements in the past few years which had made them relatively more expensive, the EIU said. As well as currency movement, structural factors maintained the high cost of living in many cities. Despite Eurozone weaknesses affecting markets such as Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy, the evidence was that German and French cities were still relatively expensive with Paris and Frankfurt holding firm in the 10 most expensive - at sixth and tenth, respectively. Oslo, which was considered the world's most expensive city a few years ago remained towards the top of the ranking - in fifth - although Singapore's presence, at ninth, in the top 10 highlighted a shift away from Western Europe towards Asian hubs.

I have always believed this to be the case, when you see how people live at restaurants/pubs etc. and shopping all day long here in NZ then it is easy to believe. Also everybody that I know who has moved to Australia are struggling to keep their heads above water (no pun intended).

NZ economic performance understated, says Bollard

The income gap between New Zealand and Australia and other OECD countries may be smaller than it appears from official figures, according to Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard. New Zealand's gross domestic product, for example, could be roughly as much as 10 per cent higher than official figures suggest, when compared with Australia, he said. In a speech to the Trans-Tasman Business circle in Auckland today, Bollard said ''international comparisons of economic statistics can be fraught with difficulties''. That could mean New Zealand's economic performance has been understated, he said. Different countries use different ways to measure things and different sources of information, so in some cases care needed to be taken in comparing economic statistics.

The Reserve Bank believed that if consistent measurement conventions were used, the income gap between New Zealand and Australia and other OECD countries ''would narrow''. ''Our view is that in New Zealand, some conservative statistical interpretations and particular characteristics of our economy have resulted in the understatement of New Zealand's economic performance. ''In international league tables New Zealand is in some ways better off than is often thought.'' The Reserve Bank has looked at differences in the way gross domestic product (GDP) is measured in Australia and New Zealand. Allowing for these differences, our GDP could be significantly higher relative to other countries than currently measured he said.

A very rough, broad, ballpark might put this up to 10 per cent higher than official data, compared with Australia. ''These are not definitive numbers, and we accept there are counter-arguments to them.'' Bollard said the Reserve Bank's analysis did not answer the question of whether New Zealand was closing the trans-Tasman gap. ''However, it does argue that the gap is not as wide as most people think.'' The Prime Ministers of Australia and New Zealand recently agreed that their respective Productivity Commissions would look at reforms aimed at increasing economic integration between the two countries. ''Given this aim, a useful contribution could be to improve harmonisation of statistical measurement in Australia and New Zealand, where appropriate, to improve data comparability,'' Bollard said.

Exports to China booming

January trade figures from Statistics New Zealand, issued yesterday, showed total exports to all markets for the month were up $430 million, or 13 per cent, from January last year, to $3.7 billion. The increased trade was driven by dairy products, especially to China. Bank economists said strong export incomes were supporting New Zealand's gradual economic recovery. But there is little scope to ramp up farm production further in the short term, despite a good grass growing season. The figures also showed that imports from China to New Zealand totalled $7.5 billion in the year to January, a rise of 10 per cent, pushing Australia into second place at $7.3b in the past 12 months.

China is the fastest growing export market for New Zealand, with exports there now accounting for about 14 per cent of the total, up from just 7 per cent three years ago. The value of exports to China in January jumped $173m, or 38 per cent, from the same month a year ago. That was led by milk powder, butter and cheese. Annual exports to China, New Zealand's second largest market after Australia, have now topped $6b, up about $1.1b in a year. Imports from China were up $93m in January, a rise of 17 per cent over a range of products from clothing to portable computers. While trade with China is growing rapidly, both ways, New Zealand ran an unexpected overall trade deficit in January of $199m. That was the result of the arrival of a new Air New Zealand aircraft and high oil imports in the month.

Bank economists had expected a surplus of about $167m for the month. Excluding Air NZ's new Boeing 777-300ER in January, worth about $214m, the country would have turned a small trade surplus of $14m. The trade balance was also hit by strong imports of oil in the month, $147m higher than in the same month a year ago, a rise of 39 per cent. But Statistics New Zealand figures for January showed total dairy exports to all markets powering ahead, with exports of butter, milk powder and cheese up more than 25 per cent on January a year ago. In contrast, meat exports were down almost 13 per cent on a year ago. Meat is New Zealand's second largest export commodity, but volumes were down again. Good grass growth may be encouraging farmers to hold back stock to lift weights before sending them to the meatworks, ASB Bank said.


TRADE FIGURES

Exports up $430 million, 13 per cent, to $3.7 billion

Dairy products up $261 million, 25 per cent

Wine up $24m, 45 per cent

Meat and offal fell $59 million, 13 per cent

Imports up $637 million, 19 per cent, to $3.9 billion J

anuary trade deficit: $199 million (excluding aircraft, a trade surplus of $14 million)

^^ Might be just me but I'd love to see resources featured in that figure.

^^ Might be just me but I'd love to see resources featured in that figure.

+1 :cheers:

Apartment boom lifts building sector

Home building consents, especially for apartments, are picking up after a dire run last year. Consents were granted for 1098 new homes including apartments in January, a jump of 27 per cent from the same month last year. There was a big leap in apartments, with a total of 198 in January, including 174 retirement units in the month. That was up from just 90 apartments in January last year. Apartments accounted for about half the total increase in consents in the month compared with a year ago, with the highest number of flats consented in more than a year.

Most of those were for retirement units in Canterbury, some of which had been delayed because of the run of earthquakes, Statistics NZ said. After removing normal seasonal fluctuations, new housing approvals rose 8.3 per cent between December. Excluding apartments the gain was just 3.7 per cent. The trend in consents has been improving since March last year, but the rate of improvement has eased in recent months Statistics NZ said. In Canterbury, earthquake-related building consents totalled $25 million in January 2012. This included $18 million for non-residential work, and $7 million for residential work, including 17 new houses.

Business confidence lifts.

Business confidence continues to strengthen in the National Bank's latest survey, with the construction sector leading the charge. A net 28 per cent of respondents expect the general business environment to improve over the year ahead, up 11 points from the previous survey in December. Firms are also more optimistic about their own activity, a net 31 per cent expecting it to pick up, five points higher than last time. These are the strongest readings for these gauges since September last year. The bank's chief economist Cameron Bagrie said the pall of gloom about the global scene, especially evident in the September quarter last year, had dissipated somewhat. "It's not all fine and dandy but it looks like people are deciding we have go to get on with it here, which is encouraging."

Global challenges were balanced by an improving housing market and prospects of lower interest rates for longer. Firms' expectations for profits and exports both improved, as did hiring intentions, and while investment intentions dipped, they remain high by the subdued standards of the past three years. Confidence lifted across all five sectors - retail, manufacturing, agriculture, construction and services. Construction was the standout, leading for general business confidence, own activity expectations, employment intentions (the highest in 17 years) profits and investment intentions. Inflation gauges in the survey augured well for the Reserve Bank taking a patient approach, Bagrie said.

Inflation expectations continued to drift lower, to 2.7 per cent from 3 per cent last time and a peak of 3.5 per cent six months ago. Firms' pricing intentions lifted, with a net 19 per cent of firms intending to raise prices, but the level remains well below where it was during the first half of last year. And pricing intentions in the construction sector, a cyclical barometer of inflationary undercurrents, remained broadly unchanged, Bagrie said. Businesses had started the year in good cheer, he said, but whether that flowed through into real activity remained the million dollar question.

The economy had several major forces acting on it at once - a volatile global environment, the need to repair the national balance sheet, the need to rebalance from consumption-led to export-led growth, a boost to national income from high export prices, and the earthquakes. Some businesses were adapting better than others to the structural changes, global and local, confronting them, in terms of reinvigorating their business models. "Those who can adapt are becoming the hunters and those who don't are going to become the hunted," he said.

Auckland remains NZ's strongest economic region

retained the top spot as the country's strongest economic region in the December quarter, thanks in part to the Rugby World Cup, according to the ASB/Main Report's latest regional scoreboard. Tasman and Nelson both edged closer to the top of the table, reaching second and third place respectively, reflecting a boost to population following the arrival of quake-affected Cantabrians, the report said. Canterbury looked to be regaining its feet despite the challenges presented by ongoing earthquakes, with housing market activity in particular picking up over the second half of 2011 - a trend that was expected to continue into this year once reconstruction gets under way. The scoreboard takes the latest quarterly regional statistics and ranks the economic performance of New Zealand's 16 regional economic areas. Auckland remained at the top of the rankings for the 10th consecutive quarter, reflecting a strong showing across a broad range of measures, including employment growth, housing market activity and guest nights. The hosting of key Rugby World Cup games, particularly in the knock-out stages, provided an extra boost to activity in the region. Beyond this boost, the region's relatively strong housing market activity was underpinning the recovery in its household sector, the report said. Waikato remained in the top half of the rankings, with the region also receiving a boost to activity from the hosting of Rugby World Cup games. This was especially reflected in the relatively robust increase in retail sales and guest nights over the past year. The effects of increased dairy sector earnings were yet to flow through into the Waikato economy. Bay of Plenty fell sharply in the economic rankings - reflecting the effects of the Psa outbreak on the kiwifruit producing region, and the fall-out from the Rena shipwreck on its tourism industry. Hawke's Bay remained in the bottom half of the rankings. This reflects weaker housing market activity and retail sales, relative to the nationwide average in NZ. Weaker employment in the wider Gisborne-Hawke's Bay region also weighed on the region's prospects. The high NZ dollar is one headwind facing the wine export sector in the region. Despite encouraging developments in its labour market, consumer confidence in Taranaki was the weakest of the regions in the country. The Manawatu-Wanganui region had improved from its bottom ranking in the previous quarter, but remained in the bottom half of rankings in the latest scoreboard. Employment in the Wellington region was flat over 2011 and the unemployment rate had risen to above the nationwide average, likely reflecting public sector cutbacks. Nelson climbed one place in the rankings, up from 4th to 3rd. Population growth continued to be quite strong in the region, likely due to the relocation of quake-affected Cantabrians.The report said this relocation had been underpinning the improving economic fortunes of the top of the South Island, where the number of jobs grew by 12 per cent last year. Tasman moved up one spot, from 3rd to 2nd. The story here was much the same as for Nelson. Canterbury remained in the middle of the rankings, with many of the problems arising from the earthquakes continuing to dog the region. Otago was another region that has benefited from an influx of displaced Cantabrians, which has lead to a surge in both population and employment in the region. After several strong quarters, Southland slips slightly in the rankings. The drier than usual weather conditions more recently may provide some challenges for dairy production levels later on in 2012, the report said.

Also everybody that I know who has moved to Australia are struggling to keep there head above water.

I Don't agree with that comment at all. Lots of kiwis are better off in OZ and can't afford to move back to NZ. I know heaps that live here and are happy too, you can easily look at the stats the ever increasing number of kiwis moving to OZ each year its not going down. I get double the pay per hour despite being on a lower position than my job in NZ. Also I pay less tax here and cost of living much lower so my head is well above the water and I could not survive and support my family back in NZ with a 50% paycut.

I Don't agree with that comment at all. Lots of kiwis are better off in OZ and can't afford to move back to NZ. I know heaps that live here and are happy too, you can easily look at the stats the ever increasing number of kiwis moving to OZ each year its not going down. I get double the pay per hour despite being on a lower position than my job in NZ. Also I pay less tax here and cost of living much lower so my head is well above the water and I could not survive and support my family back in NZ with a 50% paycut.

Good for you but that is not what I am hearing from EVERYBODY that I know over there, most regret their decision but it is difficult for them to return and start again. We have done our homework and for our skills and income bracket we are way better off here in NZ. Definitely not a case of one size fits all.

Long may you live and prosper :cheers:

Thanks SYDNEY,

It seems more kiwis than ever are giving up on home:

The NZ Labour Party and the Greens are blaming the NZ government for the record number of Kiwis leaving to look for a better life and higher wages in Australia.

Latest statistics show 4700 more New Zealanders left for Australia than arrived in January, taking the annual trans-Tasman loss to a record 38,100.

Labour's economic development spokesman, David Cunliffe, says the trend was predictable.

"While National drives down wages and puts more people on the dole, Australia is offering secure jobs that pay well," he said on Monday.

"For many, moving is a no-brainer."

Mr Cunliffe says 119,000 people have left New Zealand since National came to power in late 2008.

"That's more people than the city of Dunedin, and far more brains than the country can afford to lose."

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman says the government has failed to promote a vision for New Zealand that inspires people to stay.

"People need to be confident their government has an economic strategy for creating good jobs and a vision for a clean, green New Zealand," he said.

"National has failed to provide that strategy or vision - instead they're flogging off assets and land to pay the bills."

The Statistics NZ figures show the net outflow of migrants was 3134 in the year ended January 31, the highest net loss since August 2001.
"Net losses have been recorded in 10 of the 11 months since the February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch," Statistics NZ said.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/13087714/labour-greens-blame-govt-for-nz-exodus/

Thanks SYDNEY,

You are most welcome.

They are a bit rich to blame the Government, they didn't cause the CHCH earthquake and if history has taught us anything they should know that there has always been an ebb and flow culture in NZ. Things will reverse again as they have done in the past.

I see this as a positive - it helps with our unemployment rate, growth is manageable and it makes room for more immigrants who are knocking on the door. As long as the country's population is growing at a relatively slow pace we will be alright and NZ will be able to hold it's own (in a self-sustainable manner) :cheers:

According to this ARTICLE (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10790037) it is only 0.72% of the population with a net loss of 0.07% (hardly an exodus) and it is slowing down ... Thousands leave Australia annually as well - it is the way of the World.

Economists noted that on a seasonally adjusted basis departures to Australia have been declining in recent months. They were now at their lowest level since February last year, Infometrics economist Matt Nolan said, and had declined 13 per cent from their peak last September. "With the Australian labour market softening, we expect further declines in permanent departures to Australia." The Auckland region was the only one to buck the trend. It recorded a net gain of international migrants of 5600 in the year to January, while Canterbury suffered a net loss of 3700.

Thanks SYDNEY,

It seems more kiwis than ever are giving up on home:


http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/13087714/labour-greens-blame-govt-for-nz-exodus/

It would be interesting to know what percentage of those are just using NZ citizenship as a backdoor to Australia?

Recently a professional colleague of mine left for Brisbane to live out her dream in the 'land of milk and honey'. A lot of it it seems, turns out to be smoke and mirrors and she has had to settle for a job in the wop wops (Canberra) just to keep her head above the water.......

NZ wholesale trade rises 2.5 percent

New Zealand wholesale trade rose in the final three months of 2011, led by an increase in machinery and equipment, after two little-changed quarters. Total wholesale trade sales rose 2.5 percent to $20.4 billion, seasonally adjusted, according to Statistics New Zealand. The main contributors were a rise in machinery and equipment up 6.6 percent and grocery, liquor and tobacco product wholesaling rising 4.2 percent. The trend remains at a near historically high level, with wholesale trade sales showing little change over the past two quarters following seven quarters of growth. Of the six units measured, other goods wholesaling led the decline down 3.1 percent, followed by motor vehicle and parts wholesaling sliding 2.1 percent. Commission-based wholesaling fell 2.4 percent. Basic material wholesaling rose 0.3 percent.

Councils borrowing billions
http://static.stuff.co.nz/1331421285/820/6556820.jpg

Local councils have clocked up $1606 in debt for every man, woman and child in New Zealand at a time when the amount they expect people to pay in property taxes is rising steeply. Government figures released to the Sunday Star-Times show local councils are charging, per capita, an average of $951 in rates and that nationally, rates have risen an average of 7 per cent a year for the past decade. Over the same period council debt has ballooned from $1.8b to $7b. Local Government Minister Nick Smith is worried councils are stretching themselves too far and has signalled changes to the sector. He is set to deliver policies in the next two months so local government can control costs and keep rate rises in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which has risen by around 2.2 per cent per annum over the past decade. Smith cites the Kaipara District Council as an example of a council with an out of control debt problem. A third of that council’s rates income is now being used to service debt, which has blown out to $85m because of over-runs in the cost of building a new wastewater scheme. The Kaipara District Council’s per capita debt, according to Statistics New Zealand’s 2010 figures, stands at $4142 – the highest in the country – but other councils are following close on its heels. The Taupo District Council owes $4048 per capita, the Waitomo District $3939, and Queenstown Lakes District $3563. New Zealand’s small councils are the most highly indebted and charging the most in rates. Residents of Thames-Coromandel District pay the highest per capita rates at $2086 for every man, woman and child. Those living in the Queenstown Lakes District pay the second highest per capita rates at $1659. Waitomo comes in third ($1429) and Mackenzie district fourth ($1328). In the metropolitan cities, rates per capita range from a low of $698 in Christchurch to a high of $1081 in Wellington. In the Auckland super city, Statistics New Zealand calculates per capita rates at $753. Taupo District mayor Rick Cooper said his council had had to borrow millions of dollars for new water and waste-water treatment plants in order to comply with government legislation. It had also had to contribute millions towards the construction of a new bypass because ''the government likes to, wherever it can, shirk its responsibilities''. ''Local government is on a hiding to nothing because of what central government legislates upon us,’’ Cooper said. Queenstown Lakes District deputy chief executive Stewart Burns said it was not surprising the district had the highest debt per capita and rates per capita of the South Island councils. The district had a small resident population of around 28,000 but had to cater for 2.8 million visitors annually. He said the increase in debt over the past 10 years reflected the cost of providing infrastructure for a 65 per cent growth in its resident population. He said most of the councils with high debt per capita were ''growth hot-spots''. Economist Rod Oram believes Smith’s argument for reforming local government is flawed. He said the size of the rate rises over the past few years showed councils had been scrambling to catch up on inadequate infrastructure spending in the past and to cope with population growth. Local Government New Zealand also denies there is cause for concern. It says the fact that property taxes are growing faster than the CPI does not mean councils are exercising poor fiscal control and debt is not the demon it is made out to be. ''Debt is an internationally accepted way of spreading costs over future generations and ensuring the present generation doesn’t pay more than its share,'' said LGNZ principal advisor Dr Michael Reid. Local government expenditure as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product, and local government expenditure as a proportion of public expenditure, were relatively consistent and clearly indicated that local government spending was firmly under control.

Council debt per capita:
Kaipara District $4142 - Taupo District $4048 - Waitomo District $3939 - Queenstown-Lakes District $3563 - Tauranga City $2769 - South Taranaki District $2755 - Western Bay of Plenty District $2699 - Tasman District $2451 - Buller District $2,227 - Hamilton City $2184 - Auckland (Sum of former AK area councils) $2134 - Ruapehu District $1994 - Far North District $1925 - Dunedin City $1920 - Thames-Coromandel District $1823 - Wanganui District $1812 - Whangarei District $1800 - Palmerston North City $1765 - Rotorua District $1686 - New Plymouth District $1638 - Kaikoura District $1629 - Kapiti Coast District $1448 - Otorohanga District $1448 - Wellington City $1433 - Ashburton District $1311 - Timaru District $1155 - Nelson City $1132- South W Wairarapa District $969 - Horowhenua District $915 - Central Hawke’s Bay District $905 - Westland District $888 - Porirua City $882 - Matamata-Piako District $870 - Gore District $869 - Lower Hutt City $818 - Christchurch City $816 - Invercargill City $805 - Masterton District $779 - Whakatane District $777 - Hauraki District $745 - Waipa District $678 - Hastings District $678 - Grey District $660 - Selwyn District $631 - Waimate District $623 -Tararua District $565 - Manawatu District $495 - Waimakariri District $485 - Stratford District $474 - Upper Hutt City $453 - Gisborne District $417 - Opotiki District $361 - Waikato District $295 - South Waikato District $240 - Carterton District $216 - Napier City $105 - Marlborough District $42 - Southland District $21 - Kawerau District $3 - Clutha District $1 - Waitaki District $1 - Wairoa District $0 - Rangitikei District $0 - Mackenzie District $0 - Hurunui District $0 - Central Otago District $0

New Zealand: Billionaires' playground

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6594274113_54840ec1a5_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/luxorium/6594274113/)
The Lodge at Kauri Cliffs, luxorium (http://www.flickr.com/photos/luxorium/6594274113/) by luxorium (http://www.flickr.com/people/luxorium/), on Flickr

New Zealand is fast becoming a favourite spot for global billionaires. Global billionaires are increasingly drawn to New Zealand, pulled from the other side of the world by our pristine coastlines and easy lifestyle. American Facebook billionaire Peter Thiel and Russian steel billionaire Alexander Abramov are newcomers along with Tony Malkin, whose family interests own New York's Empire State Building. He bent Prime Minister John Key's ear over Christchurch and has bought a property near Queenstown. Little is written or known about these secretive billionaires' activities here - they clearly like it that way - and Murray Horton, secretary/organiser of the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa, said the billionaires might slip under the radar. "If they're simply buying a house - albeit a far from simple house, as they're billionaires- that's not our issue. That's immigration. If it involves rural land, that is a different story," he said, telling how the Christchurch-headquartered organisation has for many years decried alien investors.

"Who owns and profits from our banks, supermarkets, media companies, telecommunications companies, airlines, transport companies, insurance companies, etc, etc, etc, is a matter of national significance which affects everyone in the country, one which is rapidly becoming a branch office economy dominated by transnational corporations," Mr Horton says. Precisely how much property Australia's richest person, multibillionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart, has here is open to speculation but real estate experts say she owns the downtown ferry building in Quay St opposite QEII Square in Auckland's heart. Real estate sources said she bought the building via Don Harrington when he was at Jones Land LaSalle and the party who negotiated the purchase was a New Zealand lawyer. Her other jewels include the Blacketts building in Queen St whose ground-floor tenancy is closed temporarily for shoe retailer Florsheim's makeover.

"He purchased a number of properties for her - the shoe shop at the corner of Queen and Shortland, Zivo House corner of K Rd and Liverpool St. I always understood the owner is the second to richest female in Australia and based in Perth. Her money comes from iron ore and she owns substantial real estate in the States and keeps a very low profile," one agency expert said. Most certainly, a far richer person has a big stake in the city. The billionaire Sultan of Brunei has for many years owned what used to be called BNZ Tower, once Auckland's tallest, at 125 Queen St, although this building is now a ghostly incarnation of its former self, hollowed out by the Brookfield Multiplex and all the bank staff now gone to the firm's new national headquarters directly across the road at 80 Queen St.

Australian billionaires the Lowy family get millions of shopper visits annually and will soon double the floor area of St Lukes, their suburban Auckland flagship. American billionaire William Foley became the outright owner of Te Kairanga Wines in Martinborough in December after the Overseas Investment Office granted him approval. Land Information NZ documents showed Foley Family Wines bought the business last year for more than $11 million and Mr Foley and his wife, Carol, own several American wineries. They have been here for some time, owning more than half of the luxury Wharekauhau Lodge in South Wairarapa. Their interest here is not unlike Julian Robertson, the American hedge fund billionaire with a string of luxury New Zealand resorts.

Work on billionaire Graeme Hart's enormous new yacht at the Wynyard Quarter is under way in what could be New Zealand's largest marine refit. The country's richest man had the hulk of the Weta - or U77 - brought from Chile to Auckland and despite little apparent progress, insiders say the work is continuing apace. But it will take a long time so don't expect to see any progress, said one party with links to the work which has delighted a select number of Auckland marine engineers and specialist designers who say they are honoured to score the job during the financial downturn.

Chinese billionaires are drawn here too. Four years ago, the Overseas Investment Office said the purchase of Vector's Wellington network by Cheung Kong Infrastructure, run by Chinese billionaire Li Ka-shing, was the year's largest deal. Real estate business Savills, in its latest world cities review, found global billionaires "had weathered the latest economic uncertainty better than many with ultra high net worth individuals increasingly storing their wealth in bricks and mortar. "Safe-haven cities like New York performed particularly well. The value of billionaire property in New York increased by 17 per cent in the final half of 2011, fuelled by super-wealthy overseas buyers from Russia, China, Brazil and Argentina seeking condominium investments."

WHO THEY ARE

Billionaires with NZ links:

* Peter Thiel, United States
* Alexander Abramov, Russia
* Tony Malkin, United States
* Gina Rinehart, Australia
* Sultan of Brunei
* Julian Robertson, United States
* Lowy family, Sydney.
* Sir Richard Branson, Britain
* William Foley, United States
* Shmuel Meitar, Israel

NBR billionaires you may know:

*Graeme Hart, packager, our richest man: $6.5b
* Richard Chandler, Singapore-based investor: $4b
* Todd family, energy, investment sector: $2.7b
* Eamon Cleary, property owner: $2b
* Christopher Chandler, Richard's brother: $1.5b
* Lynne Erceg, liquor, property: $1.5b

Further reading regarding the article above .....


Billionaire's playground: Drawcard for the super-wealthy (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/news/article.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=10791379)

Paypal's founder loves Kiwi entrepreneurial culture (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10791378)

New York Philanthropist's long love affair with NZ (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10791401)

The Mogul Family in NZ (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/news/article.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=10791403)

Russian rich-lister's home to rival Chrisco mansion (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/news/article.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=10791404)

American billionaire serious about NZ wine portfolio (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10791402)

Sometimes I'm a little mixed about billionaires and the "grab for NZ". It's good publicity and good for a cash injection, but is it ultimately a good thing for the super rich to buy up chunks of land in NZ?

What are everyone's views on this?

I for one am all for it. We are a free economy and if the locals aren't interested and/or can't afford to buy it then somebody should be allowed to front up the money, even if they are foreigners. These billionaire's are investing in the country and creating employment (even if it is just by building a house). What I am against is if they come here, milk the land for all that it's worth and take all the profits overseas.

They can't take the land with them, plus it gets developed at no expense to New Zealand, so it seems like a fair deal to me

It would be interesting to know what percentage of those are just using NZ citizenship as a backdoor to Australia?

Recently a professional colleague of mine left for Brisbane to live out her dream in the 'land of milk and honey'. A lot of it it seems, turns out to be smoke and mirrors and she has had to settle for a job in the wop wops (Canberra) just to keep her head above the water.......

Indeed. Some things just have to be seen in perspective. This Listener feature article (http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/australias-two-speed-economy/) gives a glimpse into Australia's two-speed economy.

The 'brain-drain' has been a political football since time immemorial. John Key campaigned on it in 2008 (http://www.odt.co.nz/files/story/2008/09/national_party_leader_john_key_stands_in_front_of__2136807254.jpeg). David Lange did the same in 1978, when people were genuinely scared of Rob Muldoon (I saw it as part of an elections retrospective at the local Film Archive).

A Kiwi expat living in Perth remarked that the city is like Hamilton after winning the lottery (his own words) - awash with money, but also awash with cultural sterility and insularity, not unlike a gated community minus the actual gates.

And the brain-drain itself isn't always a bad thing - Sir Joh, Derryn Hinch, and Paul Henry to name just a few examples. And NZ kind of missed Russell Crowe - until the phone-throwing incident. :lol:

And NZ kind of missed Russell Crowe - until the phone-throwing incident. :lol:

He is very, very bogan but not as bad as that Aussie actor that they have in Desperate Housewives (he was also in V) ... he alone has spoiled the whole series for me :(

Property sales surge in February

Latest property stats from the Real Estate Institute released this morning show there was strong growth in property sales across New Zealand last month, but prices were largely unchanged. There were 6,168 unconditional sales in February - a 37 per cent jump when compared with the same month last year. It is the best February recorded since 2008. The national median house price remained steady for the third straight month at $355,000 - up $5,000 or 1.4 per cent. The REINZ Housing Price Index was up 0.8 per cent in February compared with January. The index recorded falls in Wellington, "Other North Island" and sections.

Increases were recorded in Auckland, Christchurch and Other South Island. Compared to February 2011 the REINZ Housing Price Index rose 2.7 per cent, and the National Index is now 3 per cent below the peak recorded in November 2007. The Auckland index is now 0.7 per cent above the previous peak recorded in July 2007. Westpac Bank chief economist Dominick Stephens said the strong upward trend in the housing market in February had been helped by "improving household incomes, low mortgage rates, and constrained supply." "House price inflation remains relatively modest, and dominated by Auckland and Canterbury (the two regions with the most obvious supply constraints), but is still on track for our forecast of an overall 3.5 per cent increase this year."

Stephens said the pickup in housing turnover in itself was unlikely to rattle the Reserve Bank, which incorporated a stronger housing market in the March Monetary Policy Statement. "Our concern is that the RBNZ may be underestimating the inflationary consequences of a housing recovery," said Stephens. In its analysis of the February figures, the Real Estate Institute said that while the volume increase was significant, "it is worth noting that the February 2012 result is just 65.9 per cent of the 9,357 sales recorded in February 2007." As was usual for this time of the year February sales volume increased by over 50 per cent compared to January. But on a seasonally adjusted basis the national total was up just 3 per cent.

All regions apart from Otago and Canterbury/Westland recorded double digit growth compared to February last year; Otago recorded single digit growth, while Canterbury/Westland's sales volume more than doubled compared to February last year when the market was impacted by the February 22 earthquake and its aftermath. "The real estate market in February has built on the strong results in December and January with a 37 per cent lift in sales across the country compared to February last year and the highest number of transactions in a February month since 2008," said REINZ Chief Executive Helen O'Sullivan. "While agents are seeing more activity and more positive sentiment from buyers in most places this is not translating into significant price increases. Agents in a number of areas continue to report listing shortages. Despite the increased number of transactions, buyers are remaining cautious with the days to sell measure down by just one day, and still above the long term average."

NZ hiring outlook steady, Christchurch surges

Plans by New Zealand business to take on more staff in the coming three months have remained stable, with Christchurch the main standout as businesses position themselves for the earthquake rebuild. That's according to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, which showed New Zealand's net employment outlook for the coming quarter was +17 per cent, on par with the previous quarter and the same period last year. The notable exception was Christchurch, where the outlook rose 11 percentage points on a year ago to come in at +28 per cent. "The latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey results reflect reports from other labour market indicators that conditions are gradually improving," said Lincoln Crawley, head of ManpowerGroup Australia and New Zealand.

"The unemployment rate is expected to continue its downward trend, and the flow-on effects of the Christchurch rebuild are expected to create continued opportunities in the labour market." The survey found about 68 per cent of employers had no plans to change headcounts, 7 per cent intended to cut staff, and 25 per cent expect to increase employee numbers. Breaking down the headline numbers, the outlook for the finance, insurance and real estate sector came in a +19 per cent, up 26 percentage points on the previous quarter and 8 percentage points stronger than a year ago. The company said hiring intentions among transport and utilities showed a similar rebound, and ranked as the strongest outlook of all the industry sectors.

The net employment outlook in the mining and construction category rose 7 percentage points on the previous quarter to +16 per cent, while the public administration and education sector outlook rose 12 percentage points on last quarter to +17 per cent. Manufacturing was the only sector to post a decline in hiring intentions, falling on both a quarterly and annual basis to come in at +7 per cent. Crawley said the New Zealand hiring outlook compared favourably to other economies that have been impacted to a great degree by global economic volatility.

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DOWNLOAD COMPLETE REPORT HERE (http://www.tpk.govt.nz/_documents/nz-inc-china-strategy.pdf)

Manufacturing hits 2-year high, sets new Feb record

New Zealand's manufacturing sector recorded its highest level of activity in almost two years and a record for the month of, led by metal production and machinery. The BNZ-BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index rose 6.9 points to 57.7 in February from a month earlier, with four of the five of the sub-indexes expanding. The expansion was led by new orders rising to 63.1 and production on 61.9, both at their highest level since 2004. Deliveries increased to 3.8 points to 54, the highest since August 2011. Employment was little changed on 51.3 as was finished stocks on 49. A reading of 50 separates a contraction from an expansion.

"We think a production bounce back has occurred in the first quarter of 2012," said Doug Steel, economist at Bank of New Zealand, describing the February reading as a "stunning" result. "The PMI has only printed better that today on two occasions in the past seven years - it is one out of the box," Steel said. "We are already seeing signs of a construction pick up in the leading indicators." "We are more convinced the manufacturing trend is now positive, even though the quarter to quarter movements are as bumpy as ever," he said. In the manufacturing industry sub-groups metal production improved significantly, reaching its highest value for the month on 59.7. Machinery and equipment manufacturing increased to 56.6, while food, beverage and tobacco showed moderate growth on 53.3.

Petroleum, coal, chemical and associated products reversed its decline from last month on 52.4. In the regions, unadjusted results showed that activity bounced back strongly in the North Island but slipped in the deep South. The Northern region rose 10 points to 53 from January. The Central region increased 15.5 points to 61.4, its highest level since November 2007. Canterbury/Westland showed little-change on 52 and Otago/Southern slipped to 44.7 its lowest value since June 2011.

Trade Minister, NZ companies head to China
Mr Groser leaves for China on Saturday, and will travel to Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing with a delegation of 17 mainly China-based New Zealand company representatives from a range of sectors, including tourism, clean-tech and the wine industry. They include Air New Zealand, ANZ, Villa Maria, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare and Zespri. The company representatives are mostly Mandarin speakers, which Mr Groser says will give them an important advantage in China. "This shows how New Zealand companies are becoming savvier and better prepared in their approach to China," he says. Mr Groser will also meet with his Chinese counterpart, Chen Deming, and address the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges, an economic think-tank. He will also give a speech on international trade and the Trans-Pacific Partnership at the Beijing University of International Business and Economics. In Shanghai, Mr Groser will attend the launch of a New Zealand infant formula maker and a Southland sheep and dairy company. He will also attend a promotion of New Zealand seafood and wine, featuring Pure New Zealand Greenshell Mussels, New Zealand King Salmon, Fiordland Lobster Company, Villa Maria Estate, Vinoptima Estate and Babich Wines.

Cash-rich newcomers fuel property demand

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6699716717_1666db3873_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/6699716717/)
15 JAN 12 25°C (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/6699716717/) by Urban+Explorer (http://www.flickr.com/people/eyeonauckland/), on Flickr

Cashed-up foreigners and earthquake evacuees are nudging sales of coastal homes to four-year highs. Auckland's relaxed coastal lifestyle is luring young expats back from Britain and natives of other Northern Hemisphere countries, who are buying up big homes in beachside suburbs to escape crowded cities and grey skies. Precision Real Estate principal agent Tom Kane said British citizens and returning expats also felt safer in New Zealand. Up to a quarter of his buyers this year were from abroad. Central, landlocked suburbs like Sandringham and Grey Lynn were responsible for much of Auckland's real estate growth this summer but coastal suburbs were also going strong.

Bayleys St Heliers agent Larry Sewell said sales in the Eastern Bays coastal strip between Glendowie and Orakei were approaching levels not seen since the credit crunch sent big-time buyers ducking for cover four years ago. On the North Shore, Harcourts Mairangi Bay agent Chris Reade said moneyed Cantabrians were arriving in high numbers to escape the post-quake environment. Reade said coastal property sales were brisk but prices hadn't blown out just yet. "If there's a gross overpricing at the moment, some people might be wearing it in a few years time when they come to sell - but I don't think that is the case." Property writer Stephen Hart said New Zealand was attracting wealthy foreigners for whom the idea of a clifftop or beachside home was irresistible.

"We tend to attract wealthy Brits and Europeans who've had enough and are coming over here. Our findings are that the more we're appealing to European immigrants, the more likely there'll be demand for [coastal] properties." Auckland prices may be the highest in New Zealand, but they were still small change compared with those in London. About $1.25 million buys a five-bedroom, three-bathroom home in Mairangi Bay. But the same price is being asked for a two-bedroom flat in London's Battersea Park. With those prices, Hart said British residents who sold their homes would be in a prime position to buy expensive coastal properties here. "We're still finding a lot of Brits saying 'I've completely had it with the UK' and cashing up and coming over here."

This will obviously have a significant economic impact on various cities in NZ, hence I've posted it in this thread.

Looks like most services will be centralised in Auckland going forward. I wonder at what point this will prove to not be the politically expedient thing to do for the Government?



Privately-run prison to replace old regional jails

Prime Minister John Key has confirmed old regional prisons are set to close and be replaced with a new privately-built prison at Wiri, in South Auckland.

The Government announced earlier this month that Serco, the private company managing Auckland's Mt Eden prison, would also run the new 960-bed jail which would be built by Fletcher Construction.

Although the prison muster has been falling, the Government says it needs extra capacity in Auckland.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6597216/Privately-run-prison-to-replace-old-regional-jails

Annual growth forecast at 1.6pc

Economists from Westpac and ASB Bank expect official figures on Thursday will show the economy grew 0.6 per cent in the final quarter of 2011, taking annual growth for the year to 1.6 per cent. Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon said that while such growth was unremarkable, it would be "the envy of many developed countries at the moment". There are signs of a pick-up in the international environment, however. International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde delivered a cautiously upbeat assessment of the global economy during a visit to China yesterday, saying the measures taken to fight financial woes in Europe and the United States were starting to pay off.

"Even just a few months ago, the situation was decidedly gloomy. Yet, today, we are seeing signs of stabilisation; that policy actions are paying off. "Financial-market conditions are more comfortable and recent economic indicators are beginning to look a little more upbeat, including in the US." New Zealand's quarterly figures will have been boosted by higher retail spending during the Rugby World Cup finals. Gordon said farmers benefited from "excellent growing conditions" with milk production rising 7 per cent for the quarter, but it expected a sizeable drop in manufacturing output – which would not have been helped by the widespread gas outage in the upper North Island in October.

Public sector spending cuts may also impact the figures. "We expect a decline in government administration, with the initial focus on reprioritisation having given way to outright spending cuts." ASB Bank chief economist Nick Tuffley said recent data suggested the recovery was "gaining a firmer footing", with the construction industry finally showing the first tentative signs of improvement. Tuffley expected the economy would continue to recover gradually this year but not at a speed that would persuade the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates before December. He was upbeat about the outlook for manufacturing activity in the first half of this year.

"Business confidence is recovering in light of the progress made overseas in regards to the European debt crisis." In a further indication of that progress, Greece's central bank chief, George Provopoulos, said the country's hard-hit banks might not need all the 50 billion of aid earmarked by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to help them recapitalise. He warned that for Greece to leave the eurozone would be like "opening the gates of hell", but said "fortunately, the decisions by the Eurogroup ... are making this scenario distant". US financial services group Citi forecast "10 years of continuous earnings growth" would see the top 100 British company stocks double in value to hit a record high by 2022.

Sales of million dollar plus homes on increase in Auckland

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06 FEB 12 22°C ORAKEI BASIN WALKWAY (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/6832989315/) by Urban+Explorer (http://www.flickr.com/people/eyeonauckland/), on Flickr

The number of homes in Auckland that have sold for more than $1 million in the past 12 months has increased by 29 percent over sales for the previous 12-month period. For the 12 months ending February 2012, the City’s leading real estate company Barfoot & Thompson sold 676 homes for more than $1 million compared to 526 for the 12-months ending February 2011. The same trend is evident for homes sold for between $2million and $3 million, with 64 being sold in the last 12 months, an increase of 36 percent. “Significant factors contributing to the increase in million dollar homes are the investment owners are making in upgrading and modernising properties, and new homes that are being built targeting the top end of the market,” said Peter Thompson, Managing Director of Barfoot & Thompson.
“It is not solely down to prices increasing.

“Greater interest in the high end of the market is coming through a combination of returning expats, new arrivals to Auckland looking in this price category and a growing number of locals prepared to invest that level of money in the right home for them. “The trend towards selling for more than a million dollars is particularly noticeable in the suburbs that surround the central business district, and along the eastern beaches.” Mr Thompson said there was a steady market in homes that sell in the $3 million to $4 million category, with 20 being sold over the past two years, along with 10 in the $5 million and over category.

He said that in the first two months of 2012 the trend for high value sales showed no sign of slowing, with 81 homes selling for more than $1 million compared to 50 for the comparative period 12-months earlier. “You have to go back to the peak selling year of 2007 to find more $1 million homes sold in the first two months of a new year.” Mr Thompson said the suburbs with the highest percentage of sales over a million dollars were Herne Bay (where 64% of the company’s sales were in excess of $1 million), Epsom (46 percent), Devonport (43 percent), St Mary’s Bay (42 percent), Remuera (40 percent) and St Heliers (38 percent).

World's Most Competitive Cities 2012
Auckland is the 7th cities of Asia Pacific area, and 36th in the world for overall score

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Thanks for posting. Where can I see the list? A google search did me no good.

^^ Thanks mate! :)

Here the full list of the "Top Cities for overall score":
1 New York; 2 London; 3 Singapore; =4 Paris; =4 Hong Kong; 6 Tokyo; 7 Zurich; 8 Washington; 9 Chicago; 10 Boston; 11 Frankfurt; 12 Toronto; =13 San Francisco; =13 Geneva; 15 Sydney; 16 Melbourne; 17 Amsterdam; 18 Vancouver; 19 Los Angeles; =20 Stockholm; =20 Seoul; 22 Montreal; =23 Houston; =23 Copenaghen; =25 Vienna; =25 Dallas; 27 Dublin; 28 Madrid; 29 Seattle; 30 Philadelphia; =31 Berlin; =31 Atlanta; 33 Oslo; 34 Brussels; 35 Hamburg; 36 Auckland; =37 Taipei; =37 Birmingham; 39 Beijing; 40 Dubai; =41 Barcelona; =41 Abu Dhabi; =43 Shanghai; =43 Miami; 45 Kuala Lumpur; 46 Prague; =47 Osaka; =47 Milan; =47 Doha; =50 Rome; =50 Nagoya; 52 Shenzen; 53 Warsaw; 54 Monaco; 55 Budapest; 56 Incheon; 57 Lisbon; 58 Moscow; 59 Tel Aviv; 60 Buenos Aires; 61 Bangkok; 62 Sao Paulo; 63 Fukuoka; =64 Busan; =64 Guangzhou; 66 Krakow; 67 Johannesburg; =68 Delhi; =68 Santiago; 70 Mumbai; 71 Mexico City; 72 Athens; 73 Cape Town; 74 Istanbul; 75 Tianjin; =76 Bucharest; =76 Rio de Janeiro; 78 Panama City; 79 Bangalore; 80 Kuwait City; 81 Jakarta; 82 Dalian; 83 Chengdu; 84 Suzhou; 85 Manila; 86 Muscat; 84 Chongqing; 88 Lima; 89 Bogotà; 90 Monterrey; 91 Qingdao; Ahmedabad; 93 Hangzhou; 94 Durban; 95 Ankara; 96 Medellin; 97 Pune; =98 Belo Horizonte; =98 Hyderabad; =100 Almaty; =100 Saint Petersburg; =102 Guadalajara; =102 Porto Alegre; 104 Hanoi; 105 Chennai; =106 Kolkata; =106 Riyadh; 108 Kiew; 109 Ho Chi Minh City; 110 Surabaya; 111 Colombo; 112 Karachi; 113 Cairo; 114 Bandung; 115 Nairobi; 116 Alexandria; 117 Beirut; 118 Dhaka; 119 Lagos; 120 Teheran.

Here the "Top 10 Cities of Asia Pacif Area":
1 Singapore; 2 Hong Kong; 3 Tokyo; 4 Sydney; 5 Melbourne; 6 Seoul; 7 Auckland; 8 Taipei; 9 Beijing; 10 Shanghai.

However if you want to know much more, here (http://www.citigroup.com/citi/citiforcities/pdfs/hotspots.pdf) the complete report.

Thanks Thomas :cheers: According to that list Auckland is the 3rd most competitive city in Australasia ... way to go Big Little City :colgate: :cheers:

Heritage Gold Talisman prospect looks glittering

Heritage Gold's Talisman prospect on the Coromandel Peninsula is looking like a major commercial discovery, based on figures showing the mine breaks even at A$1000 ($1284) an ounce for gold, well below current gold prices. The findings follow a review of a scoping study review for the Talisman resource. It concluded "a potentially very robust and highly profitable gold mine" exists at the undeveloped site. There is "potential for a considerable increase in the geological resource" as further investigation occurs. The company has 5754ha of exploration and mining tenements close to Newmont Gold's mines at Waihi and the Talisman project is long-awaited. The Talisman development still requires feasibility studies which won't be completed until early next year.

The Heritage share price rose 16.7 per cent to 2.1 cents on the NZX after the result for the dual-listed company came out shortly before close of trade in New Zealand. At current gold prices of US$1657.10 ($2012.56), the project offers an internal rate of return of around 70 per cent, Heritage said. Gold prices reached a historic peak at a little over US$1800 an ounce last September. The project will require environmental and heritage considerations, which the reviewers said was "pivotal in realising the potential in the resource", which may require contracting of a company expert in underground mining.

"The review found that, for the assumptions made, and a 7.5 per cent discount rate, the project has a net present value of A$150 million," Heritage managing director Peter Atkinson said. "This includes a 25 per cent contingency on all operating costs. "Overall, the review showed that the project is robust in the price range of A$1200 and A$2000 per ounce of gold and has a break even gold price of under A$1000 an ounce." Gold has been on upward price trend for more than a decade, stalling in recent months. "Using the base case assumed gold price of A$1600 an ounce and a silver price of A$30 an ounce (close to current values), the review gives an internal rate of return of over 70 per cent," Atkinson said.

NZ current-account deficit shrinks in 4Q on dairy exports

New Zealand’s current-account deficit narrowed more than expected in the fourth quarter, reflecting record exports of dairy products and lower dividends paid to overseas investors. The current account gap was $2.03 billion, seasonally adjusted, in the three months ended Dec. 31, from a gap of $2.79 billion three months earlier, according to Statistics New Zealand. The annual gap shrank to $8.3 billion, or 4 percent of gross domestic product, from $8.8 billion, or 4.3 percent of GDP three months earlier. A quarterly deficit of $2.75 billion and an annual gap of $8.16 billion were forecast, according to a Reuters survey.

Dairy farmers reaped the benefits of favourable weather in the final three months of 2011, allowing them to lift output at a time when the kiwi dollar was weak enough to mitigate the effects of global prices coming off their highs. The outlook is likely to be more muted for the nation’s biggest merchandise export, with Fonterra cutting its payout forecast for the current season and prices in the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction falling 4.5 percent, the biggest drop in eight months. “Although the goods balance remains firmly in positive territory for now, tougher conditions for exporters and softer commodity prices are likely to see this come under pressure in 2012,” Westpac senior economist Anne Boniface said in her preview of today’s figures.

The goods balance was a surplus of $1.066 billion in the fourth quarter, up $523 million from the third quarter. The value of dairy exports was at its highest level since the government statistician began tracking the series, it said today. The services deficit fell by $84 million to $199 million, which was attributed to increased spending by overseas visitors. The impact of 133,200 visitors for the Rugby World Cup was captured in the fourth quarter because it is measured in the quarter they depart. The nation’s net international liabilities were $147 billion, or 71.9 percent of GDP as at Dec. 31, a $700 million increase from the end of the third quarter.

The government statistician said the economy recorded the first divestment of both assets and liabilities in the final quarter of 2011, made up of an $8.4 billion withdrawal of New Zealand investment overseas, partly offset by a $6.1 billion withdrawal of foreign investment from New Zealand. That resulted in a net inflow of $2.2 billion. The main features of the withdrawal of foreign investment were maturing government bonds and reduced overseas debt by the banking sector. The income deficit fell $138 million to $2.8 billion in the fourth quarter, mainly on lower earnings by foreign investors. Income from foreign investment fell $132 million to $4.25 billion in the quarter, with a $66 million reduction in dividends received and a $61 million fall in profit from local subsidiaries of foreign companies.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/6615741/Bold-plan-to-grow-earnings

US billionaire invests in NZ

High-profile United States technology investor Peter Thiel has set up a $40 million venture capital fund in partnership with the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund (NZVIF), set up by the Government in 2002 to kick start the venture capital industry. NZVIF has committed $20m to the fund, Valar Ventures LP, which will invest in young Kiwi technology firms, with Thiel investing $15m and private New Zealand investors chipping in the balance. Thiel co-founded and headed PayPal before he sold it to eBay, and was Facebook's first outside investor. Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce said it was a very positive development.

''Because of the small size of the domestic market, fast-growth New Zealand businesses need access to world markets a lot earlier than a similar company would in the United States.'' NZVIF chief executive Franceska Banga said the fund would bring ''deep experience'' and significant networks, as well as new capital. ''Peter Thiel is one of the world's most successful technology investors. He and his team bring a considerable track record of expertise and resources. For young New Zealand technology companies, Valar Ventures' presence in the New Zealand market is a significant opportunity,'' she said.

''Alongside a scarcity of investment capital, the biggest challenge facing early-stage New Zealand technology companies is breaking into international markets. For web-based technology companies especially, the major market is the US. That is where Valar Ventures' networks, whether in Silicon Valley or on Wall Street, will be significant.'' Thiel said New Zealand was an attractive investment proposition. ''Over the last several years, New Zealand has been nurturing more early-stage tech companies.''

Valar spokesman Andrew McCormack said it had seen how much New Zealand's start-up ecosystem was flourishing through its work with globally focused technology companies like Wellington-based Xero. ''We were drawn to invest in New Zealand because of the vision and hard work of entrepreneurs like Sam Morgan and Rod Drury, incubators such as the Icehouse, and government initiatives like NZVIF.''

100,000 new jobs in two years

Slow, steady job growth is predicted for the next two years by a new short-term employment forecast produced by the Department of Labour, with growth strongest in Auckland, Christchurch and in skilled and professional roles. The outlook forecasts a further 100,000 jobs will open up over the same period from people retiring and leaving the workforce, on top of the 93,700 new jobs it expects to be created between now and March 2014. Some 32,400 of the forecast increase is in the construction sector, reflecting the Christchurch rebuild and expected growth in Auckland, while 33,600 will be highly skilled positions. The 4.2 percent increase over two years is expected to bring the official unemployment rate down to 5.4 percent by March 2014 from 6.3 percent at present. That's a higher rate of joblessness than the Reserve Bank's forecast of 4.8 percent in its latest monetary policy statement.

The new short-term employment prospects survey uses a new forecasting model, and will be produced twice yearly to complement other official statistics and forecasting, and is expected to assist with policy development on skills, employment and welfare issues. "Our model complements other government forecasting as it reports on 11 regions, 28 industries and 96 occupational groups, and allows us to forecast employment growth breakdowns by region, industry and skill level," the general manager of the department's Labour and Immigration Research Centre, Vasantha Krishnan said. The job growth rate ramps over the two year period, with 1.8 percent growth forecast this year and 2.4 percent in the year to March 2014, although the pace of reconstruction in Christchurch will be a key factor, and will produce a one-off surge in construction sector work. Employment growth in the year to March this year was 1.1 percent, the department estimates.

"Overall, our view is one of slow, steady growth in employment," said Krishnan. Agricultural processing, construction and utilities industries such as telecommunications and energy will drive job growth outside Christchurch, and be strongest in highly skilled jobs. "Opportunities for lower-skilled workers are expected to account for more than one-third of the employment growth over the period," said Krishnan, driven by the food processing, retailing, accommodation, agriculture and construction industries. "Employment growth is expected to be strongest in the Auckland region, driven by growth in wholesale and retail trade, transport and storage and business services which are employment-intensive industries and in the Canterbury region, mainly in construction-related activities."

Interesting and funny article ....

Australians fiddling the figures

New Zealanders are known for being understated. Australians do not know the meaning of understated. As they are wealthier than us, we expect and endure their boorish taunts. Turns out the Australians are not as rich as they think. Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard recently outlined why he thinks that our Australian cousins are not as rich as they claim to be, and it has to do with marijuana. You see, Australian statisticians consider Schapelle Corby an exporter, whereas ours ignore her kind entirely. Corby and her ilk live in what is politely called the "unobserved economy".

Drug dealers, sex workers and loan sharks all provide goods and services, yet prefer not to complete compliance forms sent to measure economic output. To compensate, Australia adds 1.3 per cent to their gross domestic product for the underground economy, and another 2 per cent for those who grow their own veges. We prefer not to dignify such nonsense with inclusion in the national accounts. Neither do the Japanese, perhaps because they run out of fingers trying to tabulate the final figure. Every other OECD nation makes this provision.

The same applies to financial services. GDP is defined as the value of completed goods and services. The final price of the restaurant meal is counted, what the restaurant spent on carrots and flour is not. When it comes to the financial sector, New Zealand considers the margin made by banks and others to be part of the cost of business. The Australians do not. This, Bollard seems to politely infer, is double counting, and is worth a significant 2 per cent of GDP. The good doctor then points to the housing sector, a recurring fascination for Reserve Bank governors. If the property is rented, the rent is counted. If it is owner-occupied, the rent is imputed.

The Australians assume that their houses get better over time and re-value their housing stock. Again, we prefer not to engage in such puffery. A house is a house. If you add pink batts then the value of the pink batts is measured. No need to give the council cause to up the rates. Chalk up another 1.5 per cent GDP to the Australians. Finally, the Australians treat research and development as an end product, which they count in their GDP figures. We treat it as a cost of business and do not. This piece of financial underarm is worth a huge 3 per cent to their GDP compared with our own.

Bollard believes we are understating our GDP by 10 per cent relative to how the Australians would measure the same output. He points to purchasing power comparisons that show Australians have 20 per cent more spending power than we do, not the 30 per cent that they should have using their figures. Seems they pad more than their bras and budgie smugglers.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/6635341/NZ-urged-to-build-1b-mill-for-wood-pulp

lol @ the Aussie GDP article...

Yes, and lol @ New Zealanders being understated.
Kiwi's overrate themselves just as badly as Australians overrate themselves.

Fletcher Building leads rise as optimism returns

New Zealand shares rose amid optimism the economy will pick up pace this year, even as China changes down a gear. Fletcher Building and Hallenstein Glasson Holdings paced the advance. The NZX 50 Index rose 22.61 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 3471.91. Twenty-nine stocks rose, nine fell, 12 did not change. Turnover was $145 million. Fletcher Building, the biggest company by market value, rose 1 per cent to $6.87, bringing its gain this year to 11 per cent. The company posted first-half earnings that missed estimates though investors are awaiting the benefits that will flow from Christchurch earthquake rebuilding. "We have been focused on local economic performance rather than what is going on globally and that is reflected in how our market has performed," said Bryon Burke, head dealer at Craigs Investment Partners. "Fletcher Building is once again leading the index movement."

Clothing chain Hallenstein rose 2.9 per cent to $3.97, climbing back from a two-week low and leading gains among retailers. Warehouse Group, the biggest retailer on the NZX 50, rose 0.4 per cent to $2.75. Pumpkin Patch, the children's clothing retailer, rose 2 per cent to $1. "The retail angle continues with lower interest rates," Burke said. "Retail generally is good yield-paying securities rather than growth." OceanaGold, operator of the Macraes goldfield, rose 4.3 per cent to $3.14, after giving a progress report on construction at the Didipio Project in northern Luzon, in the Philippines. Finance company Heartland New Zealand rose 6.7 per cent to 48c. Rakon, which makes components for navigation systems, rose 4.1 per cent to 51c. Freightways gained 2.1 per cent to $3.96.

Ebos Group, the medical and pet supplies company, was unchanged at $7.35 after Masthead, the investment vehicle of the Stewart family of Christchurch, disclosed that it had agreed to sell its 10.2 per cent holding for $7 a share, or about $37.2 million. The private, off-market placement was through brokerage First NZ Capital, according to a statement from Masthead. It did not identify the buyers, saying only that it was to "various purchasers". Settlement will be on March 29, when Masthead's Mark Stewart will resign from the board. Carpetmaker Cavalier fell 2.4 per cent to $2.07. Chorus, the network company spun off from Telecom, climbed 2 per cent to $3.54. Telecom rose 1.1 per cent to $2.395.

Home loan affordability up in February

Home loan affordability improved slightly in February, the national median house price was stable, interest rates remained at record lows and incomes nudged up a little. That is according to the latest Roost Home Loan Affordability monthly report. It says affordability for young working couples remains near its best levels in seven years, although affordability for home buyers in central Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch remains difficult. First home buyers are much more active in the market as they use their KiwiSaver nest eggs for deposits and force the banks to compete hard for their business with record low interest rates.

Swanky Auckland offices sell for highest price ever

http://static.stuff.co.nz/1332496767/960/6629960.jpg


The 30,000sqm Telecom office complex in Victoria St has reportedly been bought by German private island broker Farhad Vladi for just under $280m. One of Auckland's swankiest office building has sold to an offshore buyer for the highest price ever paid for a single commercial building in New Zealand. The 30,000sq m Telecom office complex in Victoria St has reportedly been bought by German private island broker Farhad Vladi for just under $280 million. It was developed by Rich Lister Ted Manson's Manson TCLM, with a host of sustainable features that earned it five stars from the New Zealand Green Building Council. It consists of four buildings that have a central open foyer connecting them which is open to the public.

Telecom has a lease agreement on it until 2030, and moved 2650 staff members into the building when it was completed in November 2010. It has the single biggest city office building platform in New Zealand. Designed by Architectus and fitted out by Warren & Mahoney, its interior has sustainable timber and low-emission materials. Lighting and taps operate on a sensor system, rainwater is collected on the roof in 120,000 litre tanks for flushing toilets and the building is cooled with passive chilled beams. Telecom workers based there enjoy wireless computing and no landline desk phones. Mansons TCLM director and founder Ted Manson told Business Day it sold for "a little bit less" than its $280m value.

Sources at CBRE said the last transactions in New Zealand to come close to that price were the Botany shopping centre which sold for $213m, and the sustainable office tower at 80 Queen St which went for $177m. "We didn't market the property at all. We were enjoying the high returns on the property, but we were approached by a buyer that we know from offshore and after about two or three months we ended up selling it to them at a price we're very happy with," Manson said. Farhad Vladi's New Zealand-based alternate director Brian Coburn, a commercial property lawyer at Hesketh Henry who specialises in advising foreign investors, said it would be inappropriate for him to comment. Real estate agency Bayleys, Vladi's New Zealand partner, brokered the deal but also would not comment due to confidentiality.

An entity of Vladi's that rents out privately owned islands in the Pacific also owns the Old Bank Arcade in Wellington. Last year he organised a property syndicate to purchase the land under New World supermarket in Thorndon for $18.5m. German-born Vladi is the author of coffee table book The World Of Private Islands, published this year. He is widely regarded as the world's expert on independently owned islands. The Vladi Private Islands group has been trading exclusive island properties around world since 1975. He rented out a Seychelles island to Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge for their honeymoon. For US$29.9m, his Vladi Private Islands is currently marketing Children's Bay Cay at the Bahamas. It is also marketing 11.9ha Tipaemaua in French Polynesia for 2.5m Euros and a Swedish private island with a hunting lodge, stables and golf course for 8.3 million Euros.

http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/aussies-looking-gold-golden-bay-4800578

Interesting and funny article ....

Australians fiddling the figures

Regarding the Aussie figures, there are rumblings over the unevenness of the gains from the mining boom over there, which could possibly become like that of Canadian petro-politics. As seen in the Listener article (http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/australias-two-speed-economy/) I posted about earlier, the Aussie east coast isn't exactly benefiting from it. Which is where Kevin Rudd attempted to bring in the ill-fated minerals tax, and for which he got rolled by Julia Gillard.

And Gina Rinehart's moves to buy into Fairfax Media seem to parallel that of Reverend Moon's ownership of the Washington Times. The WT is basically a propaganda rag that's never turned a profit once, and has basically been propped up by funds from Rev Moon's Unification Church.

The analogy about the two speed economy is fairly accurrate for much of the east coast particularly Queensland. The mining boom is undercutting the rest of the economy by overinflating the Aussie dollar. The Sunshine Coast is about to begin flights to Auckland from July 1, twice weekly which is expected to be a big boost for the region.

Construction-led improvement in NZ business confidence

The construction industry is leading business confidence higher in the latest National Bank Business Outlook survey, reflecting expectations of the Christchurch rebuild kicking into life. However, the bank’s chief economist Cameron Bagrie warns the improving sentiment is not occurring throughout the economy, with export commodity prices still weakening and the government’s belt-tightening keeping consumers’ wallets locked away. Nonetheless, a net 34 percent of businesses expect better times in the year ahead, up six percentage points from the February survey, and sentiment is even stronger when firms are asked what they expect for their own businesses. A net 39 percent of the 421 firms nationwide which responded to the monthly survey say the year ahead looks better for their own enterprise, up eight points on last month to a 7-month high.

Employment, investment and profit expectations were also on the rise, although Bagrie warned there could be an element of current optimism being based on the expectation that “it surely can’t get any worse?” “The process of balance sheet repair has further to run. Commodity prices are easing. Tighter fiscal policy will take more money out of our pockets than we get back,” he said, but there were rays of sunshine among the challenges with agricultural output up strongly after a good growing season, higher property prices and “a lot” of improvement in the global economy, at least for now. The latest survey showed New Zealand was “moving in the right direction, but with a sting in the tail,” said Bagrie. “Improvements are being led by housing and construction. It’s growth, so we’ll take it, but with the current account deficit at 4 percent of gross domestic product and net external liability position at 72 percent of GDP, the housing market can only get us so far.”

http://www.starcanterbury.co.nz/news/go-international-take-your-business-overseas/1306678/

Demand continues to outstrip supply, seller confidence grows

The relentless high demand for property in New Zealand has driven the inventory of homes for sale to its lowest level in four years, while once again pushing asking prices up to a record high, says Realestate.co.nz. Data released today in the NZ Property Report – a monthly report of housing market activity compiled by Realestate.co.nz – showed that the national inventory of unsold homes dropped to just 32.4 weeks in March (seasonally adjusted) – a 10% drop from the previous month and a 31% drop on the same month last year. Inventory – which is measured in terms of the number of weeks it would take in theory to sell all unsold housing stock on the market – has seen a significant drop-off over the past six months, which has pushed it well below the long term average of 41 weeks, says Alistair Helm, CEO of Realestate.co.nz.

“The high number of sales in February 2012 has squeezed inventory to a point not seen since February 2008. If we contrast where we are today with the same time last year, there was not one region where inventory was at or below the long term average,” says Mr Helm. Helm says the increased pressure on the market due to the continued high demand for property has also led to yet another record average high for asking prices nationally, which topped out at $429,865 in March, up once again from the high of $426,575 inFebruary. Helm says the high was driven by record level average asking prices seen in Canterbury ($383,395) and the Waikato ($380,315), with Auckland remaining a significant contributor, with an average asking price of $559,369 (seasonally adjusted).

“There is still no shortage of buyers, so sellers are continuing to respond to the demand with a growing confidence about their asking price. While the inventory remains low, the market will continue to lean firmly in their favour.” Helm says that while the numbers of new listings in March were steady in comparison to the previous month, maintaining the traditional post-New Year surge, there were still insufficient numbers to meet the demand. “While the numbers of new listings that we forecast would come onto the market this year is matching the reality fairly closely, it doesn’t yet look like they will be enough to stem the growing shortage if demand continues.”

when are you guys bringing us Wendy's Hamburgers. I want them over here, but for some reason, they are not here.

Didn't they die across the ditch?

We still have it, though I doubt they will come over. :(

http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/roundtable-and-nz-institute-morph-nz-initiative-ck-115751

http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/anzac-money-could-cards-4818596

Why not just go the whole hog and become a Union of Australasia or Oceania ? I suppose a common currency is one step in that direction.

What is likely to happen is New Zealand adopting the Aussie dollar in some form.

What is likely to happen is New Zealand adopting the Aussie dollar in some form.

And what? Call it the Kangawi? The Kigaroo? The Auszea dollar? Sorry, I can't see that happening and I for one wouldn't want it to happen. Australia has a markedly different economy to NZ with very shaky fundamentals. I prefer the fact that NZ has an independent currency.

^^ +1
I see no point in monetary union with Australia. For what benefit?
NZ needs it's own currency attuned to it's own economy

What is likely to happen is New Zealand adopting the Aussie dollar in some form.
Likely?

[QUOTE=MelboyPete;90146111]Why not just go the whole hog and become a Union of Australasia or Oceania ? I suppose a common currency is one step in that direction.[/QUOTEWeaK

My own opinion( and this is going to be a bit harsh)but I agree we need to join up with Australia.It's obvious the Aussies have the resources,know what they're doing and we don't.We seem to be bumbling along and we've tried everything and our GDP per capita is still near the bottom of the OECD.Don't know whether it's due to our fundamentals or something else but the results say it all.

Why not just go the whole hog and become a Union of Australasia or Oceania ? I suppose a common currency is one step in that direction.

WeaK

My own opinion( and this is going to be a bit harsh)but I agree we need to join up with Australia.It's obvious the Aussies have the resources,know what they're doing and we don't.We seem to be bumbling along and we've tried everything and our GDP per capita is still near the bottom of the OECD.Don't know whether it's due to our fundamentals or something else but the results say it all.

GDP per capita doesn't really always paint a true picture of the health of ones economy. If it did, the USA would be the gold standard for all world economies, and I think many economies are most definitely shying away from that model now.

The Aussies have resources, yes, however, they lack a viable manufacturing base and a fully diversified economy. They are incredibly lacking in some sectors and a number of sectors over there are floundering, but are being buoyed up by the resource boom. The talk of becoming a "two speed economy" is more and more at the forefront with cities like Perth swimming in wealth whilst others, like the former poster child Melbourne along with the rest of VIC and the haemorrhaging state of NSW, are not doing so great right now comparatively (sure they're no Portugal or Ireland, but they're not rosy).

Resources only get you so far. I, for one, would not want NZ's economic policy dictated by Canberra. I'm sure people from Tassie would be cautioning us in the same way.

GDP per capita doesn't really always paint a true picture of the health of ones economy. If it did, the USA would be the gold standard for all world economies, and I think many economies are most definitely shying away from that model now.

The Aussies have resources, yes, however, they lack a viable manufacturing base and a fully diversified economy. They are incredibly lacking in some sectors and a number of sectors over there are floundering, but are being buoyed up by the resource boom. The talk of becoming a "two speed economy" is more and more at the forefront with cities like Perth swimming in wealth whilst others, like the former poster child Melbourne along with the rest of VIC and the haemorrhaging state of NSW, are not doing so great right now comparatively (sure they're no Portugal or Ireland, but they're not rosy).

Resources only get you so far. I, for one, would not want NZ's economic policy dictated by Canberra. I'm sure people from Tassie would be cautioning us in the same way.


Well the US is sitting mid table and there are many countries now with higher levels of GDP per capita.Id say generally speaking all the countries in the top end of the GDP per capita table are doing alright.

The US for a long time was the gold standard untill they shot themselves in the foot and there are no excuses.The whole 'borrowing manage the debt" model they used is no example to copy agreed.

The Oz economy is undiversified and it is a problem but you just watch them sort it out.Id put money on their better educated,motivated and managed work force.

You could make the same argument about any of the Oz states being dictated to by Canberra but overall being part of a bigger driven economy like Australia makes sense.Less currency fluctuations,less idealogically driven policy,better management,access to funding etc.They would give us a good kick up the ass and bring us up to speed.

Well the US is sitting mid table and there are many countries now with higher levels of GDP per capita.Id say generally speaking all the countries in the top end of the GDP per capita table are doing alright.

The US for a long time was the gold standard untill they shot themselves in the foot and there are no excuses.The whole 'borrowing manage the debt" model they used is no example to copy agreed.

Precisely. How can one begin to hold another economy up as a gold standard only to realise a few years later that, in hindsight, it probably wasn't the best way to go. The US had very shaky fundamentals for a long time with its hypercapitalist streak, same way that Australia does. Private sector debt is crushing there and their current account balance is a nightmare and has been for a very long time.

The Oz economy is undiversified and it is a problem but you just watch them sort it out.Id put money on their better educated,motivated and managed work force.

You could make the same argument about any of the Oz states being dictated to by Canberra but overall being part of a bigger driven economy like Australia makes sense.Less currency fluctuations,less idealogically driven policy,better management,access to funding etc.They would give us a good kick up the ass and bring us up to speed.

Currency fluctuations? They suffer from the same problems too! They're currently riding high due to their currency being overvalued and so it's great for consumers. When the currency falls, consumer spending falls, but exports pick up. It's a pattern very much mirrored in NZ too due to the lack of manufacturing base and the reliance on imports of manufactured goods due to a lack of domestic production.

As for being less ideologically driven, have you watched Australian TV at all or followed Australian politics? They are just as bipartisan as NZ with two different ideologies butting heads. As for better management, take a look at state politics. There has been gross mismanagement in NSW in particular with a poor show from both sides of the political fence. As for access to funding? How about asking small states like Tassie, NT and SA how they like the federal nature of Aus when it comes to their fortunes.

You might prefer their model, but it doesn't necessarily make it the right model for NZ. I really do feel quite strongly that NZ is better off separate from Aus and am glad it is this way.

I also don't want US marines based here and I don't want nuclear power plants in NZ. We would also be treated as the pariah state, very much as Tasmania is treated. Tourism is suffering in Australia because of the high Dollar and we are attracting more tourists / film makers here because of our lower exchange rate.

Not all is rosey in Australia and if China decides to use Africa instead then what ? We are better off with our sheep, dairy products etc. which are far more self sustainable. I am no expert when it comes to economics but my gut feeling is that we are better off being independent.

Compared to most Countries in the World, little NZ is doing just fine and I hope that it stays that way ;)

I pretty much agree although in terms of tourism, it would be more convenient for Aussie tourists and vice versa to not to have to change money. I am about to do an essay on Australian Federalism and from the reading I have done so far, it appears that Australia itself is having difficulty having a unified market itself due to the federal system. I can see NZ having a greater role in COAG though.

Precisely. How can one begin to hold another economy up as a gold standard only to realise a few years later that, in hindsight, it probably wasn't the best way to go. The US had very shaky fundamentals for a long time with its hypercapitalist streak, same way that Australia does. Private sector debt is crushing there and their current account balance is a nightmare and has been for a very long time.



Currency fluctuations? They suffer from the same problems too! They're currently riding high due to their currency being overvalued and so it's great for consumers. When the currency falls, consumer spending falls, but exports pick up. It's a pattern very much mirrored in NZ too due to the lack of manufacturing base and the reliance on imports of manufactured goods due to a lack of domestic production.

As for being less ideologically driven, have you watched Australian TV at all or followed Australian politics? They are just as bipartisan as NZ with two different ideologies butting heads. As for better management, take a look at state politics. There has been gross mismanagement in NSW in particular with a poor show from both sides of the political fence. As for access to funding? How about asking small states like Tassie, NT and SA how they like the federal nature of Aus when it comes to their fortunes.

You might prefer their model, but it doesn't necessarily make it the right model for NZ. I really do feel quite strongly that NZ is better off separate from Aus and am glad it is this way.

Couldnt disagree more on the second bit Svartmetall.New Zealand dollar is up and down like a yoyo.Id have to check the charts but it was my understanding that small currencies fluctuate more due to vulnerability of size.
A lot of currencies appear overvalued due to the changing fortunes of the US,Europe and the emergence of China.
Dont believe the other stuff has any significant impact.
I do believe however that a bigger economy run in a more professional manner counts.

NZ's cheapest - and most expensive - suburbs

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7014/6797527553_a67868d3d0_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/6797527553/)
30 JAN 12 25°C AUCKLAND ANNIVERSARY (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/6797527553/) by Urban+Explorer (http://www.flickr.com/people/eyeonauckland/), on Flickr

House hunters on a tight budget will want to stay clear of Auckland’s Herne Bay, but might take comfort in knowing the average house in Patea, Taranaki, costs little more than what most people spend on a deposit. Fourteen of the 15 most expensive suburbs to live in New Zealand are in Auckland, which for most will come as no surprise. The 15 cheapest suburbs are more diverse as they are spread throughout the country – but none of the most populated cities make the list. The country’s and Auckland’s most expensive suburbs include Parnell, Remuera, Takapuna and Mission Bay, according to recent data from Quotable Value (www.qv.co.nz). The only suburb to make the list that wasn’t in Auckland was Lowry Bay in Wellington.

The country’s most expensive suburb Herne Bay has an average house price of $1.85 million, 25 times more expensive than the average house price in the country’s cheapest suburb Patea. The average house price in Patea is just $75,000. Joining Patea on the list of the country’s cheapest areas are Taumarunui in Ruapehu, Mataura near Gore and Kawerau. The lists aren’t definite because if there are no sales or very little sales in an area then it is too difficult to come up with an average price using an evaluation model, Research Director for Property IQ Jonno Ingerson said. Ingerson said it was no surprise that 14 of the most expensive suburbs were in Auckland as the country’s largest city continues to dominate the property market.

“Values have been rising in Auckland, particularly central Auckland more than anywhere else,” Ingerson said, while adding that the average price of a house in Christchurch’s outer suburbs such as Rolleston and Rangiora had steadily increased since the February 2011 quake. Demand drives Auckland’s property market, with many immigrants and migrants within New Zealand choosing to settle in the city. The most expensive house to sell last year was a beach-front mansion in Herne Bay which sold for $8.3m, which was 800 times more expensive than the Ohai, Southland property which sold for the lowest price – just $10,000.

Couldnt disagree more on the second bit Svartmetall.New Zealand dollar is up and down like a yoyo.Id have to check the charts but it was my understanding that small currencies fluctuate more due to vulnerability of size.
A lot of currencies appear overvalued due to the changing fortunes of the US,Europe and the emergence of China.
Dont believe the other stuff has any significant impact.
I do believe however that a bigger economy run in a more professional manner counts.

Firstly, neither NZ or Australian PM's are talking about a single currency. Sherwin - of the "Productivity Commission" - is careful not to say that, just that "it came out of a meeting between the two PMs". Read: The Productivity Commission still wants it, though they never mentioned it) . And that's because neither side are interested, and for many good reasons.

The issue is not one of a "joint-currency". It is NZ dropping the kiwi to take up the aussie. That is a very different issue, resulting in monetary policy in the interests of the wider union. As Sherwin says, if commodities - which drive both currencies at the moment - are going in the same direction, fine. if not, there is a problem. Up or down - dairy commodities are not going to be a key consideration when making decisions, compared to a resource sector in Australia which dwarfs it. It will always be an afterthought. Hardly in the best interests of the NZ territory of a wider economic union.

The argument that "they are bigger, their resources make them "richer" (whatever that means) so it must be in our interests to be consumed by them" makes little sense. Unless all you want to be is consumed.

There is (largely) unrestricted flow of workers, capital, transactions etc etc etc. But a sovereign dollar still allows you to make decisions in the best interests of your economy. It would be suicide to give that up. I am flabbergasted that still people think we can adopt the A$ and continue on our merry way. Sorry, that's not how it works when you put someone else in charge of your currency, especially someone whose economy is very different from your own

....a bigger economy run in a more professional manner....

Basis?

I am flabbergasted that still people think we can adopt the A$ and continue on our merry way. Sorry, that's not how it works when you put someone else in charge of your currency, especially someone whose economy is very different from your own

Indeed. The Euro is a great example of this

Yep, indeed.

And people are led to believe that a "monetary union" has been discussed for awhile now, particularly between the previous NZ (Labour) and Australian (lLberal) governments. But that's not the case.

John Howard was quite adamant. Australia isn't interested in a joint currency, but NZ are more than welcome to adopt the Australian currency if they so wish.

The argument that "they are bigger, their resources make them "richer" (whatever that means) so it must be in our interests to be consumed by them" makes little sense. Unless all you want to be is consumed.

There is (largely) unrestricted flow of workers, capital, transactions etc etc etc. But a sovereign dollar still allows you to make decisions in the best interests of your economy. It would be suicide to give that up. I am flabbergasted that still people think we can adopt the A$ and continue on our merry way. Sorry, that's not how it works when you put someone else in charge of your currency, especially someone whose economy is very different from your own

Yes yes yes but the whole dam point of monetary /union with Oz argument is to "transform" our economy,diversify away from a reliance on primary produce(dairy) and take advantage of the huge single market Oz has.All of a sudden you have economies of scale.Its all about productivity.All of a sudden you an opportunity to develop a sector of business which may not work in a small economy like ours.
Our sovereign dollar only works in our favour when we are continuosly having to tweak it for the dairy/banking/housing industry.
Look another huge problem we have being small is that we are losing talent oeverseas due to higher wages but we also cant afford good talent and this leads to a lower productivity cycle.

Yes yes yes but the whole dam point of monetary /union with Oz argument is to "transform" our economy,diversify away from a reliance on primary produce(dairy) and take advantage of the huge single market Oz has.All of a sudden you have economies of scale.Its all about productivity.All of a sudden you an opportunity to develop a sector of business which may not work in a small economy like ours.
Our sovereign dollar only works in our favour when we are continuosly having to tweak it for the dairy/banking/housing industry.
Look another huge problem we have being small is that we are losing talent oeverseas due to higher wages but we also cant afford good talent and this leads to a lower productivity cycle.

That works quite well when times are relatively good in all the countries... The Euro was mostly pretty successful during the 2002-2008 years... Since the Debt Crisis however, the Euro is on the brink of collapse with the economic woes of Greece starting to drag other countries down.

If NZ was to adopt the Aussie currency, yes, there will be some pretty good economic benefits - Not having to fork out 2% on any currency conversion charges is a good start but there are many of others.

But... having a common currency with Australia is no guarantee that it will lift NZ's average incomes... it might a little bit perhaps, but unlikely to close the gap completely in the same way that average incomes in the Eurozone countries are vastly different... in the same way that average incomes in the 50 states of the USA or Australia are different. Skilled people will still likely migrate to greener pastures regardless and given Aussie's much larger population base, and being slightly closer to its markets, will always have an upper hand.

My own opinion( and this is going to be a bit harsh)but I agree we need to join up with Australia.It's obvious the Aussies have the resources,know what they're doing and we don't.We seem to be bumbling along and we've tried everything and our GDP per capita is still near the bottom of the OECD.Don't know whether it's due to our fundamentals or something else but the results say it all.

New Zealand also has resources in abundance, gold, oil, coal, timber, the problem is there are to many people who don't want us to utilise them. If we have the amount of oil Crown Resources think we have NZ could become as wealthy as Norway.

I also don't want US marines based here and I don't want nuclear power plants in NZ. We would also be treated as the pariah state, very much as Tasmania is treated. Tourism is suffering in Australia because of the high Dollar and we are attracting more tourists / film makers here because of our lower exchange rate.



You're not a New Zealander, so what right do you have to say what we should or should not do? IMO NZ made a mistake when it didn't build nuclear plants in the 70's, the first one was to be built at Oyster Point. The Labour govt were sensible when they introduced the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act, what it did not ban was nuclear power generation in NZ, contrary to what most people think. The alternatives are damming more rivers, burning more coal or blotting the landscape with more wind turbines, none of which are acceptable to the environmental lobby.

You're forgetting that our dollar is also at or near record highs against all the benchmarks.

Yes yes yes but the whole dam point of monetary /union with Oz argument is to "transform" our economy,diversify away from a reliance on primary produce(dairy) and take advantage of the huge single market Oz has.All of a sudden you have economies of scale.Its all about productivity.All of a sudden you an opportunity to develop a sector of business which may not work in a small economy like ours.


Wasn't that the idea behind CER, we already have tariff free access to the huge single market Oz has. The problem is many NZ based companies don't take advantage of CER and the rights it gives us, for example Air NZ has the right to fly direct from Australia to anywhere it wants without flying via NZ, Qantas is so focused on the Sydney market that they neglect markets like Brisbane and Perth, Air NZ could fly Brisbane LA direct for instance.

I used to like the idea of a joint currency but really it would just be Australia dictating policy to NZ. Not any benefit to either nation as far as I can see

If NZ is to have currency union with Australia we might as well invoke the clause in Australia's constitution which allows New Zealand to become an Australia state; I don't think that would be palatable to many New Zealanders.

If NZ is to have currency union with Australia we might as well invoke the clause in Australia's constitution which allows New Zealand to become an Australia state; I don't think that would be palatable to many New Zealanders.

Yep you said it.

You're not a New Zealander, so what right do you have to say what we should or should not do? IMO NZ made a mistake when it didn't build nuclear plants in the 70's, the first one was to be built at Oyster Point. The Labour govt were sensible when they introduced the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act, what it did not ban was nuclear power generation in NZ, contrary to what most people think. The alternatives are damming more rivers, burning more coal or blotting the landscape with more wind turbines, none of which are acceptable to the environmental lobby.

I am a New Zealander. As long as we are paying tax (we probably pay more in a year than you pay in 4 years) I will have my say and more. I do more for NZ on this Forum and abroad than you do - what is your excuse besides taking up space and moaning like a little baby ?

Sorry just having New Zealand citizenship and paying tax doesn't really make you a real NZer, you weren't born here, you didn't grow up here, you have no real attachment to the country, you're a South African import with a New Zealand passport, that's how most New Zealanders will forever see you.

I could care less how much tax you pay, that's not what being a kiwi is all about, that kind of attitude isn't looked upon with much respect in NZ, if you were born here and grew up here you'd know that, it just makes you look like an arrogant jerk.

The World's Rudest Nations For TravelersRank no.28 for New Zealand

The travel search site Skyscanner.com surveyed its users about where the locals never smile and people are particularly unfriendly, and the nation with the most votes for rudest locals was…
France (félicitations, mes amis!), followed by Russia. The survey received over 1,200 responses, 65 percent from the UK and Ireland, plus elsewhere in Europe, North America and Australia.
Rounding out the top five rudest countries were the UK, Germany and “Other” (those Others are the worst, don’t you think?). The US placed 7th, behind China.
Some of the perceived rudeness may be attributable to cultural differences rather than anything intentional. For example, says Tatiana Danilova, Skyscanner’s Russian Market Manager, “the Russian language is not as polite as English, so when Russians translate directly from Russian to English, it can sound rude to an English speaker even if they don’t mean it to.”
“We were surprised to see Russians come in second place,” says Skyscanner’s Travel Editor, Sam Baldwin. He attributes this in part to the “familiarity breeds contempt” phenomenon. Although Russia doesn’t compare with the Mediterranean as a tourist destination, as visa regulations have relaxed, Russian holidaymakers are increasingly flocking to the Mediterranean and coming into contact with people from other countries.
The same principle may apply to the French: “As our closest neighbors, there has long been a familiar rivalry between the UK and France,” Baldwin says, and the preponderance of responses from the British Isles may have contributed to this result. Still, Baldwin says, “Even the French acknowledge that the way they are perceived is not entirely without basis.” (In France’s defense, I’ve always found Parisians to be just as rude to each other as they are to foreigners. Outside of Paris – and even within the city – people can be as gracious as anywhere.)
The British, for their part, voted themselves “world’s worst tourists” in a previous Skyscanner survey.
The countries rated as having the least rude locals were Brazil, the Caribbean and the Philippines.
Skyscanner claims to be Europe’s leading travel search site, operating in over 25 languages with over 25 million visits and over 11 million unique visitors per month. It has offices in Edinburgh, Scotland and Singapore.


http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n634/ItalicSiciliano/graph.png

Sorry just having New Zealand citizenship and paying tax doesn't really make you a real NZer, you weren't born here, you didn't grow up here, you have no real attachment to the country, you're a South African import with a New Zealand passport, that's how most New Zealanders will forever see you.

I could care less how much tax you pay, that's not what being a kiwi is all about, that kind of attitude isn't looked upon with much respect in NZ, if you were born here and grew up here you'd know that, it just makes you look like an arrogant jerk.

God your boring.

I'm a loser

Bye-bye KiwiRob :colgate: ... (your ip address is registered in Norway).

P.S. If being a New Zealander means that I will be like you then I will gladly give up my NZ Citizenship.

God your boring.

No it's just the typical reincarnation of KiwiRob :)

how does paying tax make someone more a new zealander than someone who doesn't?
does this imply the homeless are not new zealanders and the rich who pay the most tax are more kiwi than the rest of the country.
did you really need to ban him/her/it?

Bye-bye KiwiRob :colgate: ... (your ip address is registered in Norway).

Dear mate syd, I wonder why I felt who nealc, it was the old kiwirob! ahah the sixth sense is not betrayed me at all :) ... Then when I read those baseless accusations about being a true New Zealander, has served only to advance the hypothesis thought :lol:

how does paying tax make someone more a new zealander than someone who doesn't?
does this imply the homeless are not new zealanders and the rich who pay the most tax are more kiwi than the rest of the country.
did you really need to ban him/her/it?

Thats' not the point and you have taken it of context - as usual. As long as we pay tax we have a say in this country - full stop. We have always been suspicious that it is KiwRob reincarnated and that is also why we brought up the tax issue - he doesn't like it :lol:

He has been banned 3 times by other mods in the International forums where he has gone and insulted various Countries, moderators and forum users. He keeps coming back as another user and he is going to keep on being banned. They don't want him back at SSC. In a nutshell - he is a troll that doesn't contribute anything which is against the forum rules.


Dear mate syd, I wonder why I felt who nealc, it was the old kiwirob! ahah the sixth sense is not betrayed me at all :) ... Then when I read those baseless accusations about being a true New Zealander, has served only to advance the hypothesis thought :lol:

Yeah it was quite obvious :lol: ... he is not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Thats' not the point and you have taken it of context - as usual. As long as we pay tax we have a say in this country - full stop. We have always been suspicious that it is KiwRob reincarnated and that is also why we brought up the tax issue - he doesn't like it :lol:

He has been banned 3 times by other mods in the International forums where he has gone and insulted various Countries, moderators and forum users. He keeps coming back as another user and he is going to keep on being banned. They don't want him back at SSC. In a nutshell - he is a troll that doesn't contribute anything which is against the forum rules.

It's disappointing that it's got to this stage for all concerned including kiwirob.

You can read all about it HERE (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=89983137#post89983137) and maybe that will give people a better indication as to what he is all about ...

^^It's flattering that he misses us all so much :lol: Good riddance to bad rubbish hopefully having been banned four times across a number of different forums will make him stay away.

Fonterra sets new world record for milk powder production

The New Zealand dairy cooperative's Edendale Drier 4, the world's largest, churned out a world record 20,826 tonnes of milk powder last month. The $212m drier converts 100 litres of milk into 10 kilograms of milk powder every second. Fonterra Southern Operations Manager Keith Mason says breaking the 20,000MT mark is testament to the 550 hardworking staff at Edendale. He said: "ED4 is not only the world's largest milk drier; it is our most efficient manufacturing asset. Anything we can do to leverage the scale of ED4 will further reduce operations cost and drive strong returns for our farmers." The drier was built and installed by Swedish food packaging and processing company Tetra Pak, who said it is pleased ED4 is delivering capacity and performance for Fonterra during a season of record milk volumes. The enormous drier had just 3.84 hours of downtime in March and is on track to produce 12.5 per cent more milk powder than last season.

Hyundai sales in NZ surge

Sales of new Hyundais have surged in New Zealand in the past three years, overtaking Ford as the third-biggest seller last year. Sales in the first two months have been strong with Hyundai the second-biggest seller behind the perennial market leader, Toyota. In the full 2011 year Toyota sales stood at 11,796, Holden at 6662 and Hyundai 6072. In the first two months of this year Toyota has sold 2512, Hyundai 1400 and Holden 1394. The editor of the Dog & Lemon Guide, Clive Matthew-Wilson said Hyundai had picked up market share from Toyota and was enjoying a "golden age". "It's not that Toyota has gone backwards, it's just that Hyundai is irresistible to many buyers," he said.

"They're some of the most reliable cars on the road and they're very practical and come with lots of features and above all else they've finally got their styling together so it's not a car you feel embarrassed about having parked up your driveway." Overseas, Hyundai targeted the medium to low end of the market but this was not the case in New Zealand. "A number of your traditional Toyota customers who have brought generations of Corollas have now simply jumped ship." Matthew-Wilson did not expect Toyota to tolerate the erosion of market share. "Underestimating Toyota is like underestimating America. When the chips are down they will come through with the goods." New car sales exceeded expectations in March, led by an increase in the number of new passenger car sales. The number of new vehicles rose 3 per cent to 8528 in March from a year earlier.

Never heard a Hyundai described as ''irresistible'' before lol

NZ has the makings of a 'massive renaissance'
New Zealand has the makings of a "massive renaissance" with a number of small to medium sized businesses capable of creating money off the strength of their ideas with small capital outlay, says visiting futurist Mark Stevenson.

Stevenson, who describes himself as a "brain for hire", was in New Zealand last week for a conference address and to spend time with Wellington-based business incubator, Creative HQ.

He is currently co-founding a new research and investment vehicle designed to bridge the funding gap that hampered many new businesses: getting from the idea stage to commercial sustainability.

"If New Zealand gets it right, it is in for a massive renaissance," Stevenson said. "New Zealand has great academic institutions, it has a great can do attitude that seems to be in tune with the way the whole world is going and you all speak English - it's great! The whole idea that you are isolated now is ridiculous."

"You have high levels of education, you are starting to deal with the education problems."

Stevenson's new vehicle will invest small ticket amounts of $500,000 to $1 million into start-ups that combine fresh ideas with technology.

"A lot of small companies find it hard to get investment and the reason is that investment models are still based on the idea of industrialism," Stevenson said. "Most investment funds can't invest less than $5 million because they say the overhead of running the investment is too high."

But Stevenson challenges this, noting a business like Facebook became a multi-billion dollar enterprise on virtually no initial start-up capital.

He believes New Zealand is well placed for the coming age of businesses that are no longer based on traditional industries, such as local favourites agriculture and forestry.

"New Zealand's just got the right combination of mind sets, big picture thinking and well-developed and thoughtful populace," Stevenson said.

"The sell is simple - There is a whole bunch of cool stuff going on here that no one pays attention to."

Stevenson also says there's no point waiting for the government to come up with the answers.

"I think government is going to have to shift and some nations will get it and some nations won't," he said. "The thing with government is that everybody complains to the government and then waits for them to do something about it."

"I think government has a role but waiting for government to do something is pointless. It has to come from the bottom up and then the government will come along later. The good thing about IT industries is that you often don't need a lot of infrastructure, you can do so much of it online."

Job outlook up as firms look to hire

Job-hunters looking for work in Auckland will continue to face tough times but opportunities in Christchurch and Wellington are on the rise, a survey of hiring intentions has found. The report by recruitment agency Hudson on employment and HR trends found 23.7 per cent of businesses nationally wanted to increase permanent staff in the second quarter of 2012, up 5.8 percentage points on the previous quarter. But most of the increase is driven by the rebuilding of Christchurch with 53.6 per cent of South Island businesses planning to increase staff in the next three months. Hudson NZ executive general manager Roman Rogers said the South Island increase was the highest level of sentiment ever seen from the region in the 12-year history of the survey.

"It reflects a Canterbury rebuild effort which is finally starting to take shape, despite continued aftershocks and delays." Rogers said he expected the number of jobs in Christchurch to continue to grow. "We haven't seen the height of it yet." However the news was not so positive for the Auckland region with hiring intentions up just 1.1 percentage points to 14.7 per cent for the upper North Island. Rogers said many businesses were still feeling the tension between needing to manage costs and needing to invest in their business in order to grow. "This is being demonstrated in cautious hiring intentions during the first half of 2012." Rogers said confidence was growing in Auckland but it had yet to be reflected in job growth and it was difficult to predict when it was going to pick up.

The research found sentiment in the lower North Island was strong with 26.3 per cent of employers wanting to hire more staff - up by 12.3 percentage points. Despite Government cutbacks it seems the public sector still intends to increase staff. "One in five government employers has told us that they're going to increase headcount - there seems to be a drive to get key projects completed before reforms get underway," Rogers said. Information technology was the most buoyant sector with 43.3 per cent of companies intending to increase staff.

The construction/property and engineering sectors remained steady at 36.1 per cent while education was at 29.1 per cent and financial services at 18.2 per cent. The sentiment of medium-sized businesses picked up 9.4 percentage points to 29 per cent while large companies improved 3.9 percentage points to 21.2 per cent. Hiring intentions for contracting staff were up slightly to 9.7 per cent but remained relatively low, Rogers said. "In many cases, businesses are finding that bringing in a wider variety of specialist skills for shorter time periods is the best way to complete complex projects and transformations in aggressive timeframes."

JOB PROSPECTS

Percentage of firms intending to hire permanent staff in three months to June 30

* Upper North Island: 14.7 per cent
* Lower North Island: 26.3 per cent
* South Island: 53.6 per cent
* National: 23.7 per cent

Strong demand for IT staff

The number of advertised vacancies in the first quarter of this year was 18 per cent higher than a year ago, with information technology once again featuring strongly, according to Trade Me Jobs. This followed a 21 per cent increase seen in the fourth quarter of 2011, Trade Me Jobs said in an analysis of more than 39,000 roles advertised on its online trading platform. Advertised wages and salaries dropped by 0.2 per cent, compared with a strong quarter in 2011. "Employers' confidence remains on tenterhooks with the economy in a weaker state than many predicted, and demand for skilled workers is softening," said Pete Ashby, who heads Trade Me Jobs. "There is constant demand for IT people and we have seen that as a common theme throughout 2011 and now 2012," Ashby said. "The same could be said for engineering, accounting and healthcare."

Information technology also featured strongly in Trade Me Jobs' analysis of pay rates. The highest advertised pay rate was for an average salary of $125,505. Among the lowest-paid were kitchen staff, with a salary average of $33,009. Ashby said rebuilding in Christchurch was driving strong growth in construction and architecture, and trade and services roles, with listings up 65 per cent and 47 per cent respectively on a year ago. There was an increase in job listings in the three major metropolitan centres, but Canterbury showed explosive growth, with advertised roles up 81 per cent compared with a year ago. Wellington and Auckland were stagnant with job listing growth below the national average, up 3 per cent and 4 per cent respectively.

Kea Petroleum makes second oil strike onshore Taranaki

London-based Kea Petroleum has made its second potentially commercial oil strike in the onshore Taranaki Mt Messenger reservoir sands, and will begin flow-testing shortly. The Puka-1 well, east of Stratford, found a 40 metre interval at 1400 metres depth, indicating “a minimum of 4.5 metres of moveable hydrocarbons in good reservoir quality sands”, which it expects will be a “light oil, somewhat gassier towards the top of the interval.” Kea found uncommercial quantities of oil in its Wingrove-2 well last year, which was abandoned, and is due to drill the Mauku-1 well in a joint venture with methanol producer Methanex this year.

On Puka-1, the company said “both the depth at which these sands were encountered, and their extent, are in line with pre drill expectations, and at this stage the company has not altered its original estimate of gross recoverable resource of one million barrels with a potential upside of up to three million barrels.” The timing of initial flow testing will be determined by the availability of equipment. The AIM-listed Kea’s share price was up 5.6 percent to 9.63 pence following the announcement, having roughly doubled in the past year, having fallen from almost 13p in mid-2011, and peaking in mid-2010 at around 28p.

Businesses Are Planning for Growth (http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1204/S00308/businesses-are-planning-for-growth.htm)

Executive Level Recruitment Twice as Busy (http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1204/S00306/executive-level-recruitment-twice-as-busy.htm)

Never heard a Hyundai described as ''irresistible'' before lol
I think Kias look better (same company, roughly). The Optima is one of the best-looking cars in its class.

I read car blogs daily. The general consensus is that Hyundai/Kia have totally caught up and become of Japanese-level quality, except they don't quite have the knowledge the Japanese makers have when it comes to chassis dynamics/suspension/sporty handling.

I think Kias look better (same company, roughly). The Optima is one of the best-looking cars in its class.

I read car blogs daily. The general consensus is that Hyundai/Kia have totally caught up and become of Japanese-level quality, except they don't quite have the knowledge the Japanese makers have when it comes to chassis dynamics/suspension/sporty handling.

Yes indeed. Hiring Peter Schreyer was definitely a smart move for Kia.

Nonetheless, had still never heard a Hyundai described as irresistible :)

Auckland house values soar

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6117/6311119325_5491bbcb74_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/6311119325/)
04 NOV 11 21°C ST HELIERS (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/6311119325/) by Urban+Explorer (http://www.flickr.com/people/eyeonauckland/), on Flickr

Auckland house values have soared past the 2007 peak, as confident first-home buyers enter the market and property owners finally make a move. While Auckland leads the way - house prices are up 5 per cent in a year - cities such as Wellington, Hamilton, Tauranga, Whangarei, Christchurch and Dunedin have also recorded rises of between 0.6 and 4.1 per cent, according to latest QV statistics. The average house value in Auckland is now $529,508 - 2.2 per cent above the 2007 peak. Christchurch values ($388,629) have also passed 2007, while nationally, prices are just 3 per cent below the peak."Sales activity remained strong in March, returning to the highest levels since 2009," said QV research director Jonno Ingerson.

"Activity levels have been bolstered by first-home buyers having enough confidence to enter the market, while some existing homeowners are now ready to make a move they may have been delaying for several years." He said sales activity was still being constrained by a lack of supply in some areas, particularly Auckland, Christchurch and parts of Wellington. The old Auckland City area remains the fastest-growing part of the region, up 6.9 per cent in a year and now 4.8 per cent above the 2007 peak, said QV valuer Glenda Whitehead. The southern part of the old city - Mt Eden to Waterview and Blockhouse Bay to Penrose - has risen 8.8 per cent over the past year and is now 6.1 per cent above the previous peak.

Last night, the buoyant inner-city Auckland housing market continued its run of high prices when a renovated bungalow at 94 Norfolk St, Ponsonby, sold for $1.85 million, more than double its pre-renovation valuation of $840,000, and a villa at 51 Murdoch Rd, Grey Lynn, sold for $1.27 million, nearly $500,000 above its capital valuation of $830,000. Both homes attracted strong interest at a Ray White auction in Ponsonby. "Quality properties in good school zones and near the city centre remain in high demand," said Ms Whitehead. "However, there are insufficient properties coming onto the market to meet this demand, which is tending to put upward pressure on prices.

"In central areas, where zoning will allow, we are starting to see infill housing sites being created, with seemingly good demand for these vacant sections either from spec builders or potential owner/occupiers," she said. Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson said March was his firm's busiest month in five years - the company sold 1246 houses, up 63 per cent on February and 16.4 per cent on last March. Their average sales price for the month was $571,076, up 6.5 per cent on February but down 1.7 per cent on March last year. "March [this year] was a month where the views of buyers and sellers reached common agreement as to where values were at, and we experienced the highest level of sales since March 2007," Mr Thompson said.

Economists are not expecting interest rates to rise until either later this year or early next year, despite the heat in Auckland's market. Auckland real estate agencies are complaining about the lack of new listings, saying they cannot keep pace with demand. "Our number of listings at the end of March are down 17.8 per cent on those for last March, and is the lowest we have had at this time of the year for four years," Mr Thompson said. "Buyer interest remains strong." The Real Estate Institute said February data showed strong sales growth in the housing market - with 6168 unconditional sales for the month, up 37 per cent or 1666 sales compared with the same time last year. That was the best February result the market had recorded since 2008.

The national median house price remained steady for the third straight month at $355,000, up $5000 or 1.4 per cent on February last year, the institute said. It is due to release its March results shortly. The latest figures come after a state house in Pt Chevalier sold for $850,000 at auction and a rental crisis which has forced a number of renters into the buyers' market - adding to the demand. According to the latest Roost Rent or Buy report, it takes the typical Kiwi first-buyer household just slightly more money to service a mortgage on a bottom-range house than it costs to pay a median rent. And the high demand for homes has made auctions more attractive for sellers as it gives them the upper hand.

Retail spending lifts in March

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2553/5841048239_74044c654a_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_speedracer/5841048239/)
Sylvia Park Shopping Center (http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_speedracer/5841048239/) by Πichael C. (http://www.flickr.com/people/michael_speedracer/), on Flickr

Retail spending charged to electronic cards rose 0.3 per cent last month, to be 3.9 per cent higher than in March last year. When the automotive sector is excluded - particularly fuel purchases, which dropped 2.5 per cent despite higher petrol prices - core spending charged to debit, credit and charge cards was up 0.5 per cent. But that only reversed a 0.5 per cent drop recorded in February. For the March quarter as a whole core spending via electronic cards was 0.4 per cent higher than in the December 2011 quarter. ASB economist Daniel Smith said spending in a couple of the more volatile areas rebounded from weak February results. Hospitality spending, which was down 2.7 per cent in February, rose 2.1 per cent while apparel spending, down 2 per cent in February, jumped 2.6 per cent. "The largest spending component, consumables, rose 0.5 per cent, continuing the recent trend of steady growth," Smith said.

"Meanwhile spending on durables fell 0.6 per cent. This may represent some payback following steady growth in spending on durables over the second half of last year, but we expect increasing housing market activity will support sales of durable goods over 2012." Goldman Sachs economist Philip Borkin noted that Statistics New Zealand's estimate of the trend rate of growth in spending via electronic cards was just 0.1 per cent a month. That was tepid, he said, especially in light of recent increases in petrol and food prices. Smith said that with a modest rate of economic recovery and household debt still high, growth in retail spending would continue to be gradual. "We do not see this sector as a source of inflationary pressure in the near term. We continue to expect the official cash rate to be left on hold until the end of the year," he said.

Speech by CE at lunch hosted by EMA and HKNZBA in Auckland
Following is the speech by the Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, at the lunch hosted by Export New Zealand, Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) and Hong Kong New Zealand Business Association (HKNZBA) in Auckland (April 12, 2012).

Distinguished Guests, Friends, Ladies andgentlemen,

I am delighted to be here in New Zealand, home to a wonderfully diverse culture, some of the world's finest wine, and, among other things, the rugby world champions.
First of all, a heartfelt "thank you" to you all for your warm welcome and to Export New Zealand, Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) and Hong Kong New Zealand Business Association for hosting this luncheon. I am very pleased to have this opportunity to meet with you all and talk about some of the latest developments in Hong Kong.

Our relationship with New Zealand is a longand fruitful one. It is based on our shared values of openness and fair play and on our mutual friendship and commitment to progress. Similar to our friends here in Auckland, we Hong Kongers cherish our unique culture, which is a fascinating blend of East and West. We are also not afraid of rolling up our sleeves and getting down to the basics of sheer hard work.

When it is time to relax, fine New Zealand vintages or a game of rugby are high on the list. Just last month, sports fans had the thrill of watching the All Blacks reach the final of the world-famous Hong Kong Rugby Sevens. Although the All Blacks were pipped at the post by Fiji, it was a very exciting end to another wonderful Hong Kong Sevens weekend.

I mention this, not just because New Zealand are perennial crowd favourites in Hong Kong, but also because the rugby sevens is a good reflection of Hong Kong's business ethos. Allow me to explain.
Compared to the more traditional 15-a-side game, sevens rugby is designed for open and fast-flowing action. Players have a little extra space to show their skills, pace and ingenuity. As for the Hong Kong Sevens tournament, it brings together teams from around the world to compete on a level playing field.
Naturally, some teams, including New Zealand are stronger, faster and more experienced than others on the rugby pitch. Nevertheless, every nation is able to exploit its specific talents and own style of play to compete.
It is a similar case for our open and competitive business community. Although Hong Kong is a relatively small place, size really doesn't matter. Companies of all sizes and from all sectors can make their presence felt. That¡¦s because we go the extra mile to ensure all companies compete on an equal footing.

In Hong Kong, there is no restriction on nationality of ownership or investment and we keep red tape to an absolute minimum. Our externally-oriented and highly open economy has been ranked as the freest in the world for each of the past 18 years. That is according to both the US-based Heritage Foundation and the Fraser Institute in Canada.
This is important to us, not just because it is nice to be number one, but more important because it means we are on the right track in providing a highly competitive business environment. We have free flows of capital, information and talent.

Our common law legal system is underpinned by an independent judiciary, our civil service is clean and efficient and we have a steadfast commitment to the sense of fair play as a core value. This gives businesses the freedom to invest and innovate as they wish. Naturally, we can't guarantee the success of a business venture, we leave that to the markets to decide, but we do provide all the necessary ingredients for enterprises to succeed. This environment clearly suits the Kiwi entrepreneurial spirit.

Our bilateral trade last year grew to over NZ$1.2 billion (HK$8.2 billion). That is an 11 per cent increase year-on-year. With an especially strong relationship between New Zealand and Hong Kong, I am sure that the flow of business will continue to grow.

For one thing, New Zealand was the first place to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Hong Kong. We call this the Closer Economic Partnership Agreement, or CEP for short. The CEP was signed two years ago and came into force in January 2011. It is an extensive and high-quality agreement that complements New Zealand's FTA with Mainland China. While the CEP is not the sole reason for our growing trade links, it has undoubtedly opened up new doors for trade and investment between us. It also enhances Hong Kong's position as a springboard for New Zealand firms to reach markets in Mainland China. I encourage you to explore opportunities under the CEP.

For most companies, Hong Kong's favourable tax system is our strongest drawcard. Low and simple taxes give companies more time, and of course money, to focus on what they do best, business!
Hong Kong's corporate tax rate is capped at 16.5 per cent and people pay no more than 15 per cent salaries tax. We don't impose capital gains tax or inheritance tax, and only income sourced in Hong Kong is taxed in Hong Kong. In fact, almost 90 per cent of our companies don't need to pay any tax at all.

There is even zero duty on wine in Hong Kong, which is music to the ears of New Zealand's wine merchants. Since eliminating duties on wine in 2008, the value of our wine imports from New Zealand has increased by 188 per cent.The value of wine imported from New Zealand last year reached US$10.7 million, a 25 per cent increase compared to 2010. Our decision to eliminate wine duties was a significant step towards establishing Hong Kong as a premier wine trading and distribution centre with unparalleled links to markets in Mainland China. Our close proximity to the Mainland and deep connections with markets across China have drawn investors to our city for many years.

Despite the recent global financial crisis, there are no signs of this trend slowing down - in fact more companies are coming to our city. Around 7 000 Mainland and overseas firms have operations in Hong Kong. More than half of them run their regional operations out of our city. To fully understand Hong Kong's potential as a premier gateway into and out of Mainland China, it is important to understand our recent history. This year, we are celebrating the 15th anniversary of Hong Kong's reunification with the Mainland after more than a century as a British colony. Since the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China in 1997, Hong Kong has thrived under the principle of "One Country, Two Systems".

In a nutshell, "One Country, Two Systems" preserves all the unique characteristics that have spurred Hong Kong's development as a vibrant international city. At the same time, we have become far more integrated with our sovereign culturally, politically, financially and in all aspects of our development. This provides the best of both worlds - what we call a convergence of the China advantage and the global advantage. New Zealand firms can make good use of this win-win situation to expand their operations in Asia and reach new markets throughout our region.
New Zealand entrepreneurs will find Hong Kong to be a familiar and reliable base, with a common law legal system which is similar to the system here in New Zealand. Both Chinese and English are official languages in Hong Kong, while English is the language of choice for our business community.

We also have a unique free trade pact that is helping to break down barriers to trade between Hong Kong and the Mainland. We call this the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, or CEPA. CEPA has been expanded and fine-tuned every year since its launch in 2004. Under CEPA, all products of Hong Kong origin enjoy tariff-free entry to the Mainland market.
Hong Kong companies also benefit from preferential access to the vast services markets in the Mainland. CEPA currently covers 47 service sectors, including key sectors such as banking, tourism, legal services, medical, accounting, conventions and exhibitions, and transport and logistics services.
Important for New Zealand firms, CEPA rules are nationality neutral. In other words, overseas firms incorporated in Hong Kong can enjoy the full benefits of CEPA. In fact, almost half of the companies that have successfully applied for the Hong Kong Service Suppliers Certificate are overseas interests. We estimate that the total value of tariff savings for trade in goods under CEPA amounted to US$426 million by the end of 2011.

Not only does CEPA reduce operational costs, it also sharpens the competitive edge for quality "Made in Hong Kong" products entering the Mainland. So this really is an initiative worth exploring for your companies. Another dimension is Hong Kong's position as an international financial centre in the Asian time zone. Our stock market is the 6th largest bourse in the world and 2nd largest in Asia by market capitalisation. We also have a proven track record as a capital-raising centre.

For each of the past three years, the Hong Kong stock market has led the world in funds raised through Initial Public Offerings or IPOs. Last year alone, total IPO funds raised reached US$33 billion. Listing in Hong Kong is a reliable and effective way to attract wealthy investors in the Mainland and across Asia. And because Hong Kong is committed to upholding international standards, listed firms are able to raise the profile of their brands in our region.

An increasingly popular way for overseas firms to raise capital for operations in the Mainland is through Renminbi bonds. Hong Kong is the first and only place to issue offshore Renminbi bonds. These are sometimes called "dim sum" bonds, after a popular type of Hong Kong cuisine. Last year, there were 91 "dim sum" bond issues in Hong Kong. The total issuance value was almost 108 billion Renminbi (RMB107.9 billion) or over NZ$20 billion. I see strong potential for New Zealand companies to raise Renminbi capital in Hong Kong to fund operations in the Mainland.

In closing, allow me to turn to a topic that is close to the hearts of people in Auckland as well as Hong Kong. That topic is tourism, which is one of our four pillar industries alongside financial services, trade and logistics and professional services.

Last year, we welcomed over 42 million visitors to Hong Kong, which is about six times the size of our population. We welcome more Kiwi visitors to experience our culture and unique city living. Although we cannot compete with your country's natural beauty and extraordinary wildlife, Hong Kong has a style all of its own.

We offer some of the most sought-after shopping and dining experiences in Asia and the party never seems to stop in our top entertainment districts, even after the Rugby Sevens has finished. A lesser known fact is that 70 per cent of Hong Kong is green countryside with some magnificent secluded beaches and country parks that provide a respite from the hustle and bustle of the city centre.
The Government invests heavily in our tourism infrastructure. This includes a new cruise terminal.

When operational in 2013, the terminal will be able to handle the world's largest cruise liners and enhance our city's reputation as a cruise destination.
So please do take this as an invitation to come and visit us in Hong Kong. We welcome you to come with family or friends or combine business with pleasure by attending one of our many annual trade fairs. I should also mention that, while the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens is held at the end of March every year, our city is always open for business.

Thank you very much.

Tourism NZ slashes ICT costs
Tourism New Zealand is on track to reduce its IT operating costs by around $1 million a year, at the same time it is cutting telecommunications costs by $100,000.

It presented the information in a financial review for the 2010/11 fiscal year to Parliament’s Commerce Committee. TNZ told the committee it had cut its number of vendor suppliers from 29 to five, and made the telecommunications savings by increasing use of better tariffs and by using more video. Computerworld sought more detail about the savings.

In an email, chief executive Kevin Bowler says that over time TNZ’s needs have changed and IT best practice has moved on, so there was clearly a need to review its global IT systems and providers.
“The process was pretty straightforward,” he says. “We completed a thorough audit of what we had and what our user requirements were before issuing a request for proposal document and working through the submission process. “We determined that the most appropriate solution for us was to select a lead vendor and operate an outsourced model. As a result, we now have five IT providers that support the entire business, with the lead taken by Datacom. “Costs have fallen, the user experience has vastly improved, and our disaster recovery plan is assured.”

Bowler says further development is planned. “We are moving to an enhanced product suite that includes instant messaging, desktop video, a customer relationship management system and a new system for global document management.”

NZ slow to invest in creativity
New Zealand needs to follow the lead of many Asian countries and invest in creativity, says the director of a global design and creative conference.
Semi-Permanent, a two-day event held in five countries, is in its eighth year in New Zealand and its 10th globally. Sixteen speakers will attend the event in Auckland on May 18.

Director Simon Velvin said there was a lot less support for the creative industries in New Zealand than in countries in Asia that were working hard to build their creative and cultural credibility. "In New Zealand, we get zero support."
He said New Zealand had been slow to put resources into developing creativity and innovation. "Hong Kong and China are trying to build creative cities to attract the Pixars ... Wellington is a great example of how one person can transform a suburb into a creative hub. The rest of the country should take note."

His comments follow those of futurist Mark Stevenson, who was in the country last week.
He said New Zealand could undergo a "massive renaissance" as a number of small to medium sized businesses were capable of creating money off their ideas with small capital outlay. "The sell is simple - there is a whole bunch of cool stuff going on here that no one pays attention to."

http://tvnz.co.nz/

Jia Qinglin: China-NZ ties stronger than ever (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10799056)

More houses selling - and faster (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10799125)

NZ on track as Europe muddles through

The likelihood of a severe European debt meltdown has receded in recent months, and the foundations for continued economic recovery remain in place for New Zealand over 2012, according to the latest ASB Quarterly Economic Forecast. ASB Chief Economist Nick Tuffley: “Europe has made better progress this year in dealing with its debt crisis, and we expect the region will continue with its ‘muddle through’ approach to keeping the crisis from becoming more severe. While prospects in Europe appear to have improved, it will be a long and gradual process for Europe to reduce its overall vulnerabilities, and further flare-ups are likely along the way. Here in New Zealand we expect that with the situation in Europe reasonably contained, we will continue on our slow path to recovery.” Meanwhile, there is another risk now emerging at the petrol pumps, with oil prices back on the rise. However, Mr Tuffley remains optimistic the impact on New Zealand will be limited. “In New Zealand our oil usage is more efficient as we respond to a decade of high prices. There is also a silver lining because higher oil prices directly benefit New Zealand through the increased appetites of oil producing countries for our dairy and meat products.”

Mr Tuffley also notes the recent strength in New Zealand house prices. “Increased construction will progressively alleviate house price pressure over 2013 and 2014,” he says. “Canterbury has years of residential reconstruction ahead of it, and in Auckland rising prices and rents are giving a strong signal to build. Households are also lifting their spending and momentum will continue to increase modestly.” Mr Tuffley predicts the OCR will peak at four percent, but the rise in interest rates will be gradual. “The high New Zealand Dollar is a continuing headache for the Reserve Bank, and with economic recovery remaining gradual, interest rates are likely to remain low for much if not all of this year. “Household behaviour has changed considerably over the past few years, particularly regarding debt, in a way that will make the Reserve Bank’s job easier over the next couple of years as it lifts the OCR from its crisis low.”

NZ home sales extend rally in March, prices hit record high

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6699712335_2a09991e56_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/6699712335/)
15 JAN 12 25°C (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeonauckland/6699712335/) by Urban+Explorer (http://www.flickr.com/people/eyeonauckland/), on Flickr

New Zealand home sales climbed 25 percent last month as the property market extends its recovery from the lows of 2011, while prices reached a fresh record high amid a shortage of listings. The number of sales rose to 7,330 in March from 5,848 the same month a year earlier, and was up from 6,168 in February, the Real Estate Institute said. The national median house sale price gained 1.4 percent to a record $370,000 and was up from $355,000 in February. “The real estate market has had a strong March with the largest number of sales in a month since November 2007 and a new record national median price,” chief executive Helen O’Sullivan said in a statement. “Outside of the Auckland and Canterbury regions most of the country is seeing an upward trend in sales volumes, although price gains outside of these centres are relatively modest.” The REINZ figures come after Quotable Value said national property values eased last month, dragging down the quarterly pace of growth that the state-owned valuer uses to measure the residential market.

The REINZ stratified house price index, which strips out monthly variance in proportion to high or low value housing, rose 1.9 percent in March to 3,343.5, and has gained 4.2 percent on an annual basis. The index is 1.1 percent below its peak in late 2007. The national median time to sell fell to 35 days from 41 days in March 2011, and was down from 46 days in February. Auckland’s national house sale price rose 5.4 percent to $495,200 from March 2011, while the number of sales advanced 17 percent to 2,848. Wellington’s national house sale price dropped 5.1 percent to $393,750 last month from the March 2011, and reported a 0.1 percent fall in the number of sales to 762. Christchurch sale prices jumped 11 percent to $354,250, while the number of sales surged to 542 from just 193 in March last year, just after the February earthquake. Dunedin sale prices climbed 13 percent to $232,500 in March, with 4.2 percent more transactions at 270.

Business sentiment the best since September

Our third Confidence Survey for 2012 has shown sentiment improving yet again. A net 34% of over 400 respondents expect the NZ economy to improve over the coming year. This is up from a net 27% in March and a net 2% in November expecting that things would get worse. There continue to be signs of improvement in residential real estate, manufacturing looks to be in reasonable shape, and agriculture is good though there is caution regarding the next season’s dairy payout.

http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1204/Results_April_14.pdf

Food prices fall 1pc in March

New Zealand food prices fell in March, adding to the evidence that inflation is benign, as prices fell for fruit and vegetables, such as apples and pumpkin, and for chicken pieces. The food price index fell 1 per cent last month, according to Statistics New Zealand. Prices declined for all five sub-groups measured, the first time that has happened since October 2009. Prices rose 0.2 per cent compared to March 2011. Food prices for March are the final component of consumer prices for the first quarter, which are due for release on Thursday and are expected to show there's little pressure on the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates soon. The inflation rate was 0.6 per cent in the first three months of the year, according to a Reuters survey.

Prices of fruit and vegetables fell 4.2 per cent in March, with the biggest declines recorded for apples, down 24 per cent as the harvest pushed an abundance onto the market, while pumpkin fell 26 per cent and grapes dropped 20 per cent. Potatoes declined 5.8 per cent. Meat, poultry and fish prices fell 1.8 per cent, driven by a 4 per cent decline in the price of chicken pieces. Grocery prices fell 0.3 per cent, with chocolate biscuits falling 7.8 per cent. Bacon fell 6.5 per cent. Restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food fell 0.2 per cent and non-alcoholic drink prices fell 0.1 per cent. Strawberries were the standout price gainer, rising 24 per cent, and avocados gained 35 per cent. Ham rose 6.9 per cent and potato crisps rose 4.5 per cent.

Aussies export jobs to NZ

Hundreds of Australian jobs have been shifted to New Zealand as producers there try to avoid the impact of high wages, a soaring dollar and restrictive labour laws. Supermarket giant Woolworths is the latest to transfer jobs across the Tasman, shifting 40 contact centre jobs to Auckland this week. Imperial Tobacco has also said it will move cigarette manufacturing from Sydney to New Zealand. The companies are following in the footsteps of the food production industry, which has been shifting jobs out of Australia to take advantage of New Zealand's lower wages.

Heinz Australia recently scrapped more than 300 jobs across three states in favour of its large plant in Hastings. According to the International Labour Organisation, Australian manufacturing workers earned more than US$35 an hour in 2008. In New Zealand, the rate is under US$20 an hour. Average weekly earnings for manufacturing workers in Australia are higher than those in Canada, Britain, New Zealand and the United States, according to a study that put Australian earnings at more than A$1000 a week, compared with about A$700 in New Zealand.

Woolworths' contact centre jobs have been outsourced to call centre operator Salmat, ironically to support a service that it offers in Australia but not in New Zealand. The Salmat staff provide phone support for customers of Woolworths Money, which was launched in 2008 and provides branded credit cards, pre-paid debit cards and insurance products. A spokesman for Woolworths – which owns the Countdown supermarket chain – said it had no immediate plans to launch Woolworths Money in New Zealand. High wages, penalty rates and productivity of Australian workers have all come under attack in recent months.

Toyota Australia chief executive Max Yasuda criticised the culture of his workforce at Altona, Melbourne, saying absenteeism could be as high as 30 per cent. Earlier this year, Finance Minister Bill English said New Zealand was benefiting from a more flexible industrial relations environment. "[It] has enabled quite a lot of flexibility to our manufacturing sector, which has in the last while been growing, despite the high dollar," he said. Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule said he believed New Zealand's "more holistic view on employment" had boosted its appeal to Australian companies such as Heinz, which is returning production of tomato sauce to Hastings, increasing production there by 10 to 15 per cent.

Mr Yule cited lower levels of unionisation, the ability to operate outside traditional daytime hours, and greater use of seasonal employees. "Our labour laws are more relaxed, as I'm told." Peter Burn, director of public policy at Australian Industry Group, said New Zealand had not followed Australia in "tightening" its industrial relations settings, and its labour laws could prove to be "the straw that breaks the camel's back" for some companies. "Labour laws in themselves aren't going to be the 'knock them down' difference, but it could make a difference at the margins." Jason Hefford, of the Australian Manufacturers Workers' Union, said shifts to New Zealand were "definitely a concern", but he pointed to the high Australian dollar and occupational health and safety obligations as more significant than high wages.

Expat Kiwis keen to return to NZ

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6153/6245797362_ea0c2b4cf9_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sissonphoto/6245797362/)
Sunset Reflection Lake Matheson, South Westland, New Zealand (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sissonphoto/6245797362/) by Todd Sisson (http://www.flickr.com/people/sissonphoto/), on Flickr

Expat Kiwis are keen to fly home to grab top jobs created by the Christchurch rebuild, but there is a risk the city's accommodation shortage could handicap businesses trying to attract top talent. Executive recruitment firm Decipher Group directors Leanne Crozier and Sarcha Feary said there had been a surge in the number of expats wanting to return to work in Christchurch. The type of work available in Canterbury was proving a catalyst for many candidates to shift their careers back home, Crozier said. Previously Kiwis working overseas had often delayed returning to New Zealand because the work experience they were gaining with large corporates and multinationals in places like Britain and Australia could not be found back home. Now those sorts of opportunities were arising in Canterbury due to the rebuild, and there were opportunities in property and construction as well as other sectors.

Senior level executives in their late 30s to early 40s viewed Christchurch as an attractive lifestyle choice, Crozier said. The number of applicants for roles had tripled compared to two or three years ago to about 50-60 applicants for a role, or even 80-90 applicants for some, Feary said. Recruitment firm Sheffield South Island search principal Robyn Redford agreed there was a trend of expats wanting to return to New Zealand to work in Canterbury. However, the accommodation shortage would "loom large" and would be a disadvantage for the city over the coming months and years if it could not be solved, Redford said. For prospective new hires, finding accommodation in Christchurch was not just about being able to afford accommodation, it was being able to find something suitable, particularly in the rental market, she said.

Salaries on offer were increasing, as was the "degree of customisation" of packages as firms knew their offer needed to be competitive. Industries related to the city infrastructure, like local government and its support services, were hiring but there were also still local companies who simply needed additional executives, and that part of the market had remained strong, Redford said. Kelly Services marketing manager Victoria Robertson said the employment market for senior executives in Christchurch was becoming more pressured, as a greater number of firms were looking to fill new roles in areas directly related to the rebuild, like engineering, and also in sectors that have been traditionally strong in Canterbury, particularly IT.

Robertson said the firm had yet to see a significant increase in the number of people applying for senior roles in Christchurch but they were seeing a growing level of inquiry from executives around New Zealand and reports of interest from overseas. "The shortages in the rental market may become a concern if the market does not stabilise, although senior executives are likely to find a greater degree of choice at the higher end of the rental market," Robertson said. "We have seen an increasing number of executives who are buying family homes throughout Christchurch once settled in the city."

NZ consumer confidence lifts in April as outlook improves

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4150/5452122656_8cd989a7e8_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/martindavies63/5452122656/)
Arrowtown in Autumn , New Zealand (http://www.flickr.com/photos/martindavies63/5452122656/) by martindavies63 (http://www.flickr.com/people/martindavies63/), on Flickr

New Zealand consumer confidence lifted in April, suggesting a pick-up in the local economy as households feel more optimistic about their financial well-being. The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence index rose to 114.0 in April from 110.2 in March, where a reading above 100 indicates there are more optimists than pessimists. The Current Conditions index advanced 7 points to 111.6, while the Future Conditions index rose 2 points to 115.7. “Consumer confidence looks to be improving, though we need to see successive monthly lifts to make sweeping statements,” Cameron Bagrie, chief economist at ANZ New Zealand, said in his report.

“Lifts in consumer sentiment suggest the economy is gaining momentum, though we need to be mindful that New Zealand’s net external debt position demands the domestic economy does not lead the recovery too far.” Government figures showed household spending continued to rise in the final three months of last year, growing 0.8 percent for an 11th straight gain, though that demand has been mixed in the early months of this year. Today’s survey showed three of five sub-segments that make up consumer confidence improved. A net 4 percent of households felt worse off compared with net 10 percent in March, while expectations for a year from now showed a net 28 percent of respondents thought they’d be better off, up from the previous month’s 23 percent.

It is still perceived as a good time to buy big ticket household items with sentiment rising 8 points to a net 28 percent. Views towards the economic picture 12 months ahead and the five year outlook were broadly unchanged at a net minus 3 percent and plus 20 percent respectively. On a regional basis, confidence rose everywhere except in Canterbury, after the region recorded its sharpest lift in sentiment in March since the first earthquake on Sept. 4. The South Island, excluding Canterbury, was the most confident region, up 10 points to 123.4, while Auckland recorded the second highest increase on 120 points from 118.5 in March. Confidence rose across all age groups except those between 35 to 49 years. Female confidence continued to rise in April, up 3 points to 109.7, while male confidence increased 7 points to 118.6 after a decline in March.

NZ rural farm sales surge 109% in March quarter

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3257/3221578622_e1b532a890_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ropergees/3221578622/)
Matanaka farm buildings (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ropergees/3221578622/) by ropergees (http://www.flickr.com/people/ropergees/), on Flickr

Rural farm sales surged 109 percent in the March quarter, to the highest level in a three month period since September 2008, the start of the global financial crisis. The number of farms sold rose to 397 in the three months ended March 31 from, 190 sales a year earlier, according to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand. The median price per hectare for all farms sold rose 14.1 percent to $17,577. “Sales over the three months to March reflect the strengthening of the rural economy, bolstered by favourable growing conditions, very good levels of production, solid market returns and a positive climate for borrowing,” said Brian Peacocke, rural market spokesperson at REINZ.

All regions, apart from the Hawkes Bay, recorded an increase in sales in the March quarter compared with a year earlier. Canterbury showed the largest increase, up 39 sales, followed by Waikato on 38, while the Hawkes Bay dropped 4 sales. “Irrespective of the above, a note of caution is clearly emerging as the industry prepares for winter, with the expectation that income levels may moderate next season, and given seasonal variabilities, it is unlikely the combination of current benevolent factors will be repeated for some time to come,” said Peacocke. Grazing properties accounted for the largest increase in sales, up 59.9 percent over the three months. The median sale price for a grazing farm rose to $15,696 a hectare from $13,220 in March 2011.

The lifestyle property market increased its sales by 42.4 percent to 1,347. ... I wish that I was one of those buyers - lucky buggers !

^^ Yes, it's interesting that in the 1990's, many Australasian companies closed their NZ national office/production facilities and relocated them to Australia citing cost cutting efficiencies like "economies of scale" and "closer to the market" among others... And I'm absolutely sure that Watties was one of those companies back in the mid-1990's after it was purchased by Heinz.

10-15 years on... and whaddya know? They are all moving back!!

While I am all for higher wages etc, they must be justified economically and can't just be because a "union said so" or artificially justified by series of government protection measures such as tariffs and duties on imported alternatives etc.

The main problem with the above is that ultimately people will end up paying more for something that they need to...

Remember some years ago when they had a huge cyclone in Queensland that wiped out 85% of the Banana crop of Australia? Since you can ONLY buy Australian bananas in Australia, the shortage resulted in bananas costing over AUD$20/kg at the supermarket... meanwhile us NZ'ers were eating the much nicer Ecuadorian bananas for just NZ$2/kg

Obviously at that price, most Australians didn't want to pay $20/kg for bananas so what little the shops did have they often didn't sell them all and they got dumped.

All because of the stupid organisation that represents banana growers in Australia who have lobbied the government (successfully) to not allow foreign bananas this is the sort of shit that happens. If that organisation had any sense, they would have imported bananas themselves and sold them - dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb.

If they had any sense they would allow imported bananas all the time.
If people want Australian bananas they can easily choose the ones in the shop with the sign that says they were grown in Australia.

But no, every consumer in the country must pay for a small handfull of assholes in Queensland to keep running their little hobby banana farms.

New Zealand economy good bet, Key tells Singapore investors
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John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sempeck/5429080585/) di sempeck (http://www.flickr.com/people/sempeck/), su Flickr

New Zealand's economy is "a good bet" as it recovers from the Christchurch earthquake and nine years of Labour-led rule, Prime Minister John Key told businesspeople in Singapore yesterday.
"We are fundamentally producing what the world wants to buy and when I ring up my fellow investment banking mates and ask them what they think of New Zealand their attitude has dramatically changed in the last few years," he said. "They're very much of the view New Zealand is, to put it in investment banking terms, a buy on the dips not a sell on the rallies."

Mr Key arrived in the city state early yesterday from Indonesian capital Jakarta where a key part of his message during the trade-focused visit was that New Zealand imports and investment were nothing to fear. In a speech yesterday to the Singapore Business Federation and the local New Zealand Chamber of Commerce, Mr Key said Singapore's business elite had nothing to fear from investing in New Zealand. Mr Key lived in Singapore for a year during the mid-90s when he headed investment bank Merrill Lynch's global foreign exchange division, and his speech was pitched as if the audience included former clients. He pointed out Singaporean interests have considerable holdings in New Zealand hotels and other property, although the Herald understands new investment has slowed in recent years. Mr Key noted much of the existing investment was in Christchurch, including some well-known hotels.

The fact the Millennium Hotel was being rebuilt after suffering damage in the quake was a sign of confidence in Christchurch's future, he said, looking for the hotel's Singaporean owner in the audience. The series of earthquakes, said Mr Key, were "not an event we are likely to see again in anyone's lifetime. We would certainly encourage you not to be deterred in terms of your investments in New Zealand."

Talking about his Government's economic management, Mr Key said the primary focus was to get New Zealand's books back into surplus and to make the economy more productive. "We went through a period, in the 2000s if you like, where New Zealand lost competitiveness." Policies of that period saw the economy stand still and they didn't serve the country well. But Mr Key said he and his Government were "positive about what's happening in New Zealand and about our outlook".

Updates from Hotel Price Index

Hotel Prices Around the World LINK (http://www.hotel-price-index.com/2012/spring/hotel-price-around-the-world/highs-and-lows.html)
Up, Up, and Away: Hotel Prices on the Rise
Nearly 75% of international cities included in the Hotel Price Index™ (HPI™) for all of 2011 indicate an increase in daily room rates – 17% of those show a rise of 20% or higher.
The World's Greatest Price Rises
Christchurch is 3rd ($94 in 2010) and ($143 in 2011) = 53% YoY ADR


What Drives You to Travel? LINK (http://www.hotel-price-index.com/2012/spring/what-drives-you-to-travel/adventure.html)
As the world becomes more globalized and it starts to seem impossible to find untouched adventures whether it’s kayaking in North America or trekking in Southeast Asia, there still remain hidden gems – some right in your own backyard and others several flights, hours and continents away. Hotels.com has highlighted some suggested adventure destinations in the U.S. and around the globe.
Adventure
New Zealand $129
This world-renowned adventure destination is quickly rebounding from the Christchurch earthquake and hotel prices are reflecting that comeback as average daily rates in Christchurch rose by more than 50% in 2011, and New Zealand saw overall prices rise 19%. Deals still abound for adventure travelers on both the North and South Islands which allow for more adrenaline-pumping, heart-stopping extreme sports including bungee jumping, river kayaking and rafting, heli-skiing, caving, zorbing and more. Between the breathtaking scenery, indigenous Maori culture and warm Kiwi hospitality, thrill seekers will love this adventure sport haven.


Prices Paid at Home and Away LINK (http://www.hotel-price-index.com/2012/spring/prices-paid-at-home-and-away/index.html)
Data collected on prices paid both at home and away reflects that travelers of various nationalities continue to spend more when abroad than within their own countries, with some exceptions.
New Zealand ($105 Home) and ($150 Away)


FOR FULL REPORT VISIT HERE (http://www.hotel-price-index.com/2012/spring/)

^^
I think the rise in Christchurch has more to do with a the limited number of accommodations now available (much reduced capacity).
For over a year now there has been no CBD accommation available so even with the reduced numbers of visitors and nights stayed in Christchurch the remaining (largely suburban stock) is in high demand.