With seven months to go before the national election, New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Adern’s, hold on power is looking increasing insecure after a series of broken election promises: Three years ago, Ardern was elected on a promise to “transform” New Zealand in the most exciting vote the country had seen in decades… Ardern’s Labour
Via Bloomie: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern could be facing a tough battle to win re-election this year, with her opponents holding a small lead seven months out from the vote, a new poll shows. The opposition National Party is steady on 46% support, retaining its position as the country’s most popular political party,
Statistics New Zealand has released data showing that the average floor area of new homes consented in 2019 was about 21% (42 square metres) smaller than the peak of 200 square metres in the December 2010 year, and has fallen to mid-1990s levels: “The drop in new home size is primarily due to stand-alone houses
Statistics New Zealand has released labour market data for the December quarter, which reveals both falling unemployment an rising wage growth. New Zealand unemployment fell to 4.0% from 4.1% (revised) in the September quarter: The labour underutilisation rate also fell to an 11-year low of 10%: The seasonally adjusted underutilisation rate fell to 10.0 percent
Interest.co.nz has published an interesting article on how this year’s national election campaign will confront exactly the same housing problems as the 2017 election: Labour will be stuck between a rock and a hard place campaigning on housing issues ahead of the election. On the one hand it has house price growth to thank for
The REINZ has released its house price data for December, which revealed a 0.4% seasonally adjusted increase in values over the month, with values nationally surging by 12.4% year-on-year to a new record high: The breakdown by region is shown below: Outside of Auckland, seasonally adjusted house prices rose by 0.7% in November, with prices
In the lead-up to the September 2017 general election, the New Zealand Labour Party launched a plan to reduce immigration by around a third in a bid to relieve chronic housing and infrastructure pressures (especially around Auckland): …in recent years our population has been growing rapidly as record numbers of migrants arrive here. This has
Via Stuff: The Government will invest an extra $12b in infrastructure over the next four years, including $6.8b on transport. Finance Minister Grant Robertson unveiled the spending at the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) on Wednesday afternoon, saying it was the right time to take advantage of low interest rates and “future-proof” New Zealand
Bravo RBNZ again: The Reserve Bank of New Zealand today released its final decisions following its comprehensive review of its capital framework for banks, known as the Capital Review. Governor Adrian Orr said the decisions to increase capital requirements are about making the banking system safer for all New Zealanders, and will ensure bank owners have
In the lead-up to the September 2017 general election, the New Zealand Labour Party launched a plan to reduce immigration by around a third in a bid to relieve chronic housing and infrastructure pressures (especially around Auckland): …in recent years our population has been growing rapidly as record numbers of migrants arrive here. This has
The New Zealand Herald business columnist, Liam Dann, lamented that the nation’s population is about to hit 5 million people 30-years earlier than projected in 2004: I have become obsessed with a Statistics New Zealand press release from 2004. It forecasts New Zealand’s population to hit 5.05 million people by 2050… Now I can’t get
New Zealand’s home ownership rate has plunged to 70-year lows, according to the latest Census: According to the 2018 census, only 64.5 per cent of New Zealanders own their own home, compared to nearly 74 per cent in the early 1990s. Shamubeel Eaqub said it was driven by a lack of affordability in New Zealand.
The REINZ has released its house price data for October, which revealed a 1.1% increase in values over the month, with values nationally also increasing by 7.6% year-on-year to a new record high: The breakdown by region is shown below: Outside of Auckland, seasonally adjusted house prices rose by 1.3% in October, with prices up
Statistics New Zealand has released tourism data showing that more than 1.5 million Australians travelled to New Zealand in year to September 2019 – a record high: Visitor arrivals from Australia exceeded 1.5 million for the year ended September 2019, Stats NZ said today… The lift in visitor arrivals from Australia for the year ended
In the lead-up to the September 2017 general election, the New Zealand Labour Party launched a plan to reduce immigration by around a third in a bid to relieve chronic housing and infrastructure pressures (especially around Auckland): …in recent years our population has been growing rapidly as record numbers of migrants arrive here. This has
Statistics New Zealand has released its labour force data for the September quarter, with the unemployment rate rising 0.3% to 4.1% from last quarter’s 11-year low of 3.9%. Below are the key points from the release: Unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent. Underutilisation rate fell to 10.4 percent. Employment rate was unchanged at 67.5 percent.
In the lead-up to the September 2017 general election, the New Zealand Labour Party launched a plan to reduce immigration by around a third in a bid to relieve chronic housing and infrastructure pressures (especially around Auckland): …in recent years our population has been growing rapidly as record numbers of migrants arrive here. This has
The deplorable state of New Zealand housing has come to light, with Statistics New Zealand releasing results from the Census revealing that more than one-in-five homes are suffering from damp, with more than one-in-three rental homes impacted: More than one in five homes were damp some or all of the time, and for renters, dampness
In the lead-up to the September 2017 general election, the New Zealand Labour Party launched a plan to reduce immigration by around a third in a bid to relieve chronic housing and infrastructure pressures (especially around Auckland): …in recent years our population has been growing rapidly as record numbers of migrants arrive here. This has
Much like Australia, New Zealand purports to run a ‘skills-based’ visa system that plugs critical skills shortages across the nation. However, new data from Statistics New Zealand actually shows that fewer of those migrating to New Zealand are of working-age. From Interest.co.nz: The Government’s decision to open the door to the parents of migrants to
In the lead-up to the September 2017 general election, the New Zealand Labour Party launched a plan to reduce immigration by around a third in a bid to relieve chronic housing and infrastructure pressures (especially around Auckland): …in recent years our population has been growing rapidly as record numbers of migrants arrive here. This has
Results from the New Zealand Census shows that the country’s housing shortage worsened materially in the five years to 2018 as mass immigration-fuelled population growth easily exceeded the number of dwelling additions: The figures show that between the 2013 and 2018 censuses this country’s usually resident population increased by 10.8%, while the total number of
The OECD’s annual review of migration trends has revealed that Australia and New Zealand have the largest temporary migrant workforces in the world, which is raising competition for lower-income workers and suppressing wages: Australia had almost 750,000 permits for temporary migrants on issue in 2017, second in total number only to the US. As a
Statistics New Zealand has released national accounts figures for the June quarter of 2019, with Gross domestic product (GDP) rising by 0.5% over the quarter. Between the June quarter of 2018 and the latest June quarter GDP rose 2.1%, which was the slowest rate since December 2013. As shown below, services drove the GDP growth,
It never ceases to amaze how our dishonest governments pull the wool over voters’ eyes on immigration. In Australia, we’ve recently witnessed the Morrison Government wax lyrical about reducing immigration to “relieve congestion in the cities”, only to then see the number of temporary visas balloon to unprecedented levels, as illustrated below: Accordingly, net overseas
The REINZ has released its house price data for July, which revealed a 0.6% increase in values over the month, with values nationally also increasing by 5.4% year-on-year: Outside of Auckland, seasonally adjusted house prices rose by 2.2% in July, with prices up 6.5% year-on-year. Whereas Auckland’s seasonally adjusted median house price fell by 1.2%
Earlier this year, Housing Minister Phil Twyford backslid on the Government’s ‘KiwiBuild’ program to build 100,000 public houses, delaying the start date and changing the policy from “build” to “facilitate” the “delivery of 100,000 affordable dwellings”, as well as changing the definition of “affordable”. Now, the NZ Government has waved the white flag, abandoning its
Statistics New Zealand has released its monthly dwelling consents data, which reveals that dwelling consents hit their highest level since the 1970s in annual terms: And this ‘boom’ has been driven by Auckland: The problem is, New Zealand’s population is around two-thirds larger than it was in the mid-1970s, and has accelerated recently driven by
Statistics New Zealand has released its labour force data for the June quarter, with the unemployment rate falling 0.3% to an 11-year low of 3.9%. Below are the key points from the release: Unemployment rate fell to 3.9% – lowest since June 2008. Underutilisation rate fell to 11.0% – lowest since September 2008. Employment rate
In August last year, New Zealand’s Labour-led coalition Government introduced legislation to amend the Overseas Investment Act to preclude foreign buyers from purchasing residential property. The legislation came as Statistics New Zealand data showed that foreign buyers had gobbled one-in-ten inner Auckland homes: In the September 2018 quarter, 9.8 percent of home transfers in Auckland inner city (Waitemata
