Westpac Regional Roundup, June 2022

With agricultural incomes set to remain firm, regions with a rural backbone should continue to outperform their big city counterparts. Regions that depend on international tourism are also expected to close the performance gap on the pack, according to Westpac’s latest Regional Roundup, which summarises the economic outlook by region across New Zealand.

Westpac Industry Economist Paul Clark commented that “Even then, it’s likely that most regions will experience weaker or flat growth over the coming year.”

“The main reason for that is falling house prices, which we think will squeeze household spending.”

“Construction activity though should provide some offset. Strong consent issuance suggests that homebuilding activity in most areas of the country will remain firm for the foreseeable future.”

“Ditto for tourism. All regions should benefit following the reopening of the borders to foreigners. However, it’s Otago and to a lesser degree Auckland that are set to benefit most from a resulting pick up in tourist spending,” said Mr Clark.

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