Gisborne slips on regional economy leader board

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MIXED fortunes over the past three months have caused Gisborne’s economy to fall back into a mid-table position, with rises in house sales and retail sales cancelled by a fall in construction.

The latest ASB/Main Report regional economic scoreboard shows Gisborne fell four places to ninth in the scoreboard rankings.

“This quarter’s readings are a mixed bag for the region,” said ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley.

“House prices are growing at a rapid rate, with Gisborne only behind its southern neighbour Hawke’s Bay for nationwide growth.

Similarly, free of the constraints in other regions, guest nights continue to grow strongly.

“On the other side of the ledger, construction activity has cooled, while job creation is also a step down from the nationwide average.

“On balance though, we retain our positive outlook for the region for the remainder of 2017.”

The report showed house prices here grew 17 percent over the year’s second quarter, while new car sales grew

6 percent, with 339 sales made for the quarter.

Other highlights of the report were an 8 percent rise in annual retail sales.

However, construction activity fell 40 percent annually to $11m.