Bay moves down rankings

Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce chief executive Wayne Walford is shocked by the latest ASB NZ Regional Economic Scoreboard results. Photo/file.

Due to a "real mixed bag of results" Hawke's Bay has moved down the rankings of ASB's New Zealand Regional Economic Scoreboard.

In comparison to the last quarter, Hawke's Bay moved from 6th to 10th on a scoreboard which ranks the performance of New Zealand's 16 regional council areas based on measures such as employment, construction, retail trade and house prices.

The report stated that retail sales growth was weak and the value of non-residential construction consents had fallen.

Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce chief executive Wayne Walford was shocked by these latest results and couldn't believe the Bay had moved down behind the West Coast.

"I am struggling to work it out as all sectors appear to be going berserk. People are seeing growth and reward, for example our pipfruit is hugely successful, as is the port and tourism, Pan Pac, SPG and Furnware, everything is booming."

"I am at odds with these results and will need to research further to get a sense as to why we have moved down."

Tremains managing director Simon Tremain was also surprised by the results as he felt the level of activity in both residential and commercial was strong.

With regards to the value of non-residential construction consents falling, Mr Tremain said there was a lack of available opportunities for new industrial construction.

"There is not a lot of growth as there is no new land being developed, all of the consents are with existing developments."

However, the report stated that Hawke's Bay would keep its four-star rating for now as annual house price growth continued, along with residential consent issuance, and there was still optimism for tourism, horticulture and viticulture in the region.

Mr Tremain said this was evident in the property market with good activity and lots of people busy.

"Everyone I talk to, in both commercial and residential, is as busy as ever, so it does surprise me we have moved down four places."

Hawke's Bay Tourism general manager Annie Dundas was equally as shocked and said their report for May showed all of their figures across the board were up.

She said all indications to date had been positive.

"We have had a good year so far and although it is hard to forecast the next few months we have still got things happening with Winter F.A.W.C! Winter Deco and conferences."

Nelson topped the rankings for a second straight quarter which, according to ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley, was due to booming tourism, horticulture, viticulture and construction.

For Hawke's Bay the report stated they were keeping a wary eye on the construction outlook for the region with rockets not the only thing lifting off.