More than 40 percent of Auckland businesses surveyed by Auckland Chamber of Commerce in August believe business conditions will deteriorate in the next 6 months.
Only 15 percent of respondents believe business confidence will improve.
This is a sharp reversal from just 3 months ago when only 13 percent believed business conditions would deteriorate and 37 percent believed business confidence would improve.
Business owners were more positive about their own businesses, where 47 percent were positive about business conditions for the next 6 months.
Skilled employees were still hard to find, with 30 percent of employers indicating that finding the right skills was a constraint to their business.