Articles

Surging net migration in late 2023 and falling mortgage rates in late 2024 led several forecasters to predict a strong recovery in house prices during each of the following years.

Financial markets have gone on a bit of a tear recently, shifting from one extreme to the other and now seeing interest rate hikes coming sooner and stronger than either the Reserve Bank’s or economists’ expectations.

Chief Forecaster Gareth Kiernan has penned Infometrics’ traditional Christmas Carol. Sung to the tune of Frank Sinatra's Christmas song “Let it Snow”.

After a tough couple of years, there are early signs that the downturn in construction employment might be moderating.

Conditions in the labour market have deteriorated over the past 18-24 months, as the unemployment rate has risen from 4.0% in December 2023 to 5.1% just a year later. The unemployment rate has continued to rise in 2025, reaching 5.3% in the September quarter, up from 5.2% in June.

The effect of AI on the labour market and broader economy is highly uncertain, but research is beginning to emerge that looks at the exposure of tasks within occupations to generative AI automation or augmentation.

Falling interest rates and limited growth in labour costs continued to keep overall transport costs in check in the September quarter.

Infometrics was proud to sponsor the recent Economic Development New Zealand (EDNZ) 2025 Annual Conference, with a focus on “Local Strength, Global Reach”. As part of the conference, we shared an economic update and some analysis of key trends that the Infometrics team has noticed emerging as influential focus areas for economic development over the last year.

The mix of light passenger vehicles that make up New Zealand’s fleet has been changing in many ways over the past two decades.

The housing market has attracted plenty of attention in recent months. Housing Minister Chris Bishop’s desire for falling house prices was at odds with the Prime Minister’s hope for “modest, consistent” increases in house prices, with the latter seemingly buying into the view that the economy will struggle to grow if the housing market is stagnant.