Hamilton withstands economic effects of 'tumultuous year' better than other NZ cities

Hamilton's strong economic foundation served it well during a tumultuous year, the city council says. Photo / Supplied

Amid a global pandemic, cost of living crisis, and more recently the invasion of Ukraine, Hamilton's economy has continued to outstrip other metro cities in New Zealand.

Hamilton City Council's newly released 2021 Annual Economic Report provides an in-depth look at Hamilton's people, economy, and development for the 2021 calendar year, and the economic outlook for 2022.

Information is collated from the council's own data, as well as organisations like Statistics New Zealand and Infometrics, to provide a central source of economic facts and figures for the city and, crucially, the reasons behind them.

Growth funding and analytics manager Greg Carstens said Hamilton's strong foundation had served it well during a tumultuous year.

"In the second year of the pandemic, we remained strong. With a diverse economy anchored by a wide range of productive sectors including healthcare, manufacturing, and technology – we managed to withstand the economic effects better than, and are tracking ahead of, other major cities."

The report acknowledges the global and national economic situation has impacted the city, but less so than Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington.

Image / Hamilton City Council

Hamiltonians are seeing the benefits of a strong economy, said Carstens.

"Hamilton's GDP has increased 4.3 per cent since 2019 despite the pandemic. This compares to increases of 0.4 per cent in Auckland, 3.3 per cent in Wellington, 3.1 per cent in Christchurch and 3.6 per cent across the country.

"More than 100,000 people were working in Hamilton – the first time we've reached that number – and unemployment was down to 4.8 per cent."

Hamilton's population is growing at a faster rate than nationally and in other major cities. Between 2017 and 2021, its population increased 8 per cent compared with 6 per cent in Auckland, 3 per cent in Christchurch, 4 per cent in Wellington and 6 per cent across New Zealand.

In 2021, growth continued despite closed borders with an increase of 0.9 per cent compared with -0.1 per cent in Auckland and 0.1 per cent across New Zealand.

Image / Hamilton City Council

Carstens said the city continues to perform highly in housing growth.

Despite the economic disruption and challenges affecting residential development, a record 1497 new homes were completed, up 6 per cent on 2020. A further 1170 were under construction – a 12 per cent increase for the same period.

However, commercial consenting was hit harder, with nearly 79,000sq m of new floor area consented across both commercial and industrial developments in 2021, well below the average of 105,000sq m between 2012 and 2019.

"We've got another tough year ahead of us, as uncertainty and inflation in the national and global economies continues. But the numbers show us we're in a good position to face those challenges head on."