Bay spenders hit new high

Craig Innes, dealer principal at Ebbett Holden. Photo / George Novak

Consumer confidence has reached a 10-year high in the Bay of Plenty in the past quarter, topping the country for the first time in two years, according to ANZ.

The ANZ Regional Trends Report, released last week, showed a number of economic areas in which the Bay was performing highly.

Economist Steve Edwards said for the September quarter the report covers, the Bay had the strongest increase in Paymark electronic spending transactions nationally, increasing 2.2 per cent in the latest three months and 8.5 per cent for the year.

For the first time in two years, the Bay of Plenty topped the regional rankings for consumer confidence in the Westpac McDermott Miller Regional Economic Confidence report, cited in ANZ's report as one of only two regions to improve throughout the country and hitting its highest point in 10 years.

Strong increases also came from new car registrations, internet job ads and commercial building permits.

At Ebbett Holden, there had been "huge growth" in commercial vehicle sales, dealer principal Craig Innes said.

Mr Innes had figures that showed in Tauranga there had been 2701 new vehicles registered in the year to date, a 24 per cent increase from 2178 in 2013.

Ebbett Holden had sold 438 cars this year to date, compared with 351 at the same time last year.

Rachel Emerson, commercial manager for Element IMF, Tauriko Business Estate's commercial arm, said there had been strong construction activity at the estate, which reflected the 35.4 per cent three-month increase in commercial building permits detailed in ANZ's report.

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Dave Burnett said the report showed highlights of the Bay of Plenty economy.

"There are good things happening around the region. There's the infrastructure that's happening around town with the Tauranga Eastern Link, which will be completed next year, the kiwifruit industry is coming back after Psa, which is another big plus for the region, and there's the tertiary partnership."

Zespri communications manager Oliver Broad said the ANZ report was positive news.

"The New Zealand kiwifruit industry is set for strong growth and, with around 80 per cent of our kiwifruit grown here in the Bay of Plenty, this is good news for our local economy."