Dunedin quarterly economic figures underscore confidence

Dunedin quarterly economic figures underscore confident future

Dunedin (Monday, 10 June 2019): A combination of steady growth in Dunedin’s GDP, employment numbers, population and building activity, provide a continuing platform for confidence in the city’s economic future.

The Quarterly Economic Monitor released by Infometrics today show figures to the year ended March 2019 which indicate Dunedin had GDP growth of 2%pa. DCC Enterprise Dunedin Director, John Christie, says that this rate, while being below the national 2.5% GDP rate, sits well with Dunedin as it prepares for major infrastructure projects about to get underway and works to address housing demand.

Mr Christie says, “The non-residential building consents grew by 17.5% over the year, which is a forward-looking indicator in that what is consented now underpins activity in the future. The consents issued will create a solid workload for contractors before the hospital redevelopment gets underway.

“The figures also show a decrease in unemployment from 7.1% in March 2018 to 6.1% a year later, and a 0.5%, decrease in those drawing Jobseeker Support benefit (in contrast to the rising national trend). This suggests that employers have the confidence to invest in their enterprise by taking on new staff. It is good to see gains for those that may have been left out of improvements in the economy until now.”

Regarding the tourism sector, Infometrics data shows a diverging trend in visitor spend (up 2.7%) and guest nights (down 1.6%). While Infometrics suggests this widening gap may be attributed to a greater spend per tourist and an increase in unrecorded Airbnb activity, Enterprise Dunedin considers it may also be partially due to an increase in cruise ship passenger numbers. In the 2017/18 season there were 254,750 cruise ship visitors (including crew); this increased to 352,148 passengers and crew last summer.

To view the full Quarterly Economic Monitor for Dunedin visit: https://ecoprofile.infometrics.co.nz/Dunedin%20City/QuarterlyEconomicMonitor

ENDS

Note for the editor:

More statistical information about Dunedin can be found at DunedinNZ Insights dashboard at www.dunedinnz.com/business/toolkit-and-resources/research-and-statistics

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