Commercial registrations and activity
Commercial registrations down across the board
12 Dec 2019
Our take on the latest Commercial registrations and activity (Thu 12 Dec 2019)
New medium commercials down 8.8%pa
New light commercials down 13%pa
New very heavy commercials down 11%pa
The key numbers...
- New medium commercial vehicle registrations dipped 8.8%pa in November 2019 following four months of gains.
- New light commercial vehicle registrations fell 13%pa in November 2019, continuing the downwards trend of the previous six months.
- New very heavy vehicle registrations fell 11%pa in November 2019, taking the 12-month running total at its lowest level in 18 months.
Total new commercial registrations
Annual running total, source NZTA
...and our reaction
- The across-the-board decline in new commercial vehicle registrations is in line with weak business confidence and slowing economic growth. Annualised total new commercial registrations hit a peak of just over 50,000 in April 2019, but the trend since then has been an increasingly pronounced decline.
- We expect construction activity peak in early 2021 which, along with easing domestic economic growth, will slow commercial registrations further.
- Despite the pendulum beginning to swing, it’s important to remember that how high commercial registration numbers have been over the past three years compared to the previous 10 years.
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