Gisborne knocks Hawke's Bay off top spot in NZ for economic growth

Retail purchases in the region accelerated to 7.1 per cent in the June 2019 year compared with national average growth of 4.0 per cent. Photo / Supplied

Although Hawke's Bay has lost its spot as New Zealand's top economical region experts aren't worrying as the region continues to show strong numbers.

Hawke's Bay slipped back into fifth equal for the June 2019 quarter with Southland as Taranaki, Northland and Wellington all passed Hawke's Bay as well as Gisborne, which now sits in top spot.

The NZ Regional Economic Scoreboard produced by ASB takes the latest quarterly regional statistics and ranks the economic performance of New Zealand's 16 Regional Council areas.

Ratings are updated every three months, and are based on measures including employment, construction, retail trade and house prices.

According to the report it showed that the continuation of a strong property market was a big factor for the region's economic growth.

"Annual house price growth remains strong at over 12 per cent, while slowing house sales may be more of a case of a lack of listings than a case of lack of interest," the report stated.

"Indeed, with house building consents high, there's good reason to think that the region's economy still has momentum to sustain decent growth at least until the end of the year, if not beyond."

Chief executive of Business Hawke's Bay Carolyn Neville said the Bay continues to perform strongly but this isn't something to rest back on.

"We should never rest easy when times are good," she said.

"Constant innovation, really understanding consumers, creating value-added products and services that command a price premium that global customers want in good times and in bad. That's the challenge for our exporters."

According to Business Hawke's Bay's Quarterly report the regions stellar economic performance continues with Infometrics' provisional GDP estimate for the region growing 3.0 per cent next to a national average of 2.5 per cent.

This is supported by consumer spending with electronic card usage on retail purchases in the region accelerated to 7.1 per cent in the June 2019 year compared with national average growth of 4.0 per cent.

Health enrolments in the region, a proxy for population growth, continue to reflect national trends growing 1.5 per cent in the Hawke's Bay Region since last year.

While tourism expenditure in the region also keeps on growing, rising 2.7 per cent in the June 2019 year to an unprecedented $660m, with guest nights, already at high levels, showing signs of picking up again, growing 1.7 per cent in the June 2019 year.

Population growth in the region is also supporting house sales, which edged up 0.7 per cent this year next to a fall of 0.9 per cent nationally.

While at 4.1 per cent the region's unemployment rate continues to match the national average. The average number of Jobseeker Support recipients in the region grew 5.7 per cent in the June year compared with a national rise of 9.6 per cent.

With central government funding, additional Work and Income front-line staff, and reports of a greater focus being put on supporting benefit recipients into work, Business Hawke's Bay are hoping to see the number of Jobseeker Support recipients start to fall in the coming year.