Westpac Regional Roundup, December 2022

Regions with a high exposure to export markets, particularly agriculture/horticulture and foreign tourism, will generally fare better than those that don’t, according to Westpac’s latest Regional Roundup which summarises the economic outlook by region across New Zealand.

Westpac Industry Economist Paul Clark commented that “We are picking tourism heavy Otago to outperform all others over the coming year.”

“That said, we still expect all regions to see slower economic growth over the coming year as higher interest rates, increases in the cost of living and falling house prices combine to squeeze household spending power.”

“Worst affected are likely to be regions that have a higher proportion of interest rate sensitive investors or who might have previously recorded big house price gains off small volumes. Auckland tops that list followed by the Manawatu. Wellington also features because it has already experienced a significant loss of household wealth due to falling house prices,” said Mr Clark.

https://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/2212/Regional_Roundup_Dec_2022_Westpac_NZ.pdf

© Scoop Media