Best of Business

A top building boss says there are two fundamental issues with the construction industry and things need to change. Bayside Designer Homes is the latest building business to fail, leaving nine Auckland housing sites unfinished, and homeowners in the lurch. Naylor Love Chief Executive Rick Herd says one issue is the boom and bust cycles. He told Mike Hosking the second is the fragmentation of the i...

An expert says a probe into banking may not be the fix for issues in the sector. Latest figures from KPMG show bank profits reached a record high $7.15 billion in the year to September, up 17 percent on the year before. It comes after the Government voted against a select committee inquiry into banking, instead considering whether to order a Commerce Commission market study. Squirrel Mortgages' Da...

Cashflow issues are being blamed for building businesses falling over. The country's construction crunch may start to snowball, with more building businesses expected to fail. Bayside Designer Homes is the latest, leaving nine Auckland housing sites unfinished. AUT Professor of Construction Management John Tookey told Kate Hawkesby the industry uses borrowed money to do all the work. He says as in...

Cashflow issues are being blamed for building businesses falling over. The country's construction crunch may start to snowball, with more building businesses expected to fail. Bayside Designer Homes is the latest, leaving nine Auckland housing sites unfinished. AUT Professor of Construction Management John Tookey told Kate Hawkesby the industry uses borrowed money to do all the work. He says as in...

Aucklanders will have to prepare to pay more for their water services in the coming months. Watercare has locked in a 9.5 percent price increase on their water bills, starting from July.  Watercare Chief Customer Officer Amanda Singleton says the organisation has planned infrastructure developments for Auckland, which will cost $1 billion by the end of 2023 and $13 billion overall. Amanda Singleto...

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is projecting a trading loss of $1.6 million ahead of their next meeting. Thursday's meeting will "immediately" review their operations to find a more sustainable business model. BusinessDesk managing editor Pattrick Smellie says these losses are tied to the two years of Covid-19 that the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron endured. Pattrick Smellie says that RNZY...

A billion dollars. That’s how much Prime Minister Chris Hipkins slashed from the Government’s spending plan yesterday. Not that it’s going straight into the bank, because it’s a bit like robbing Peter to pay Paul. The money will go instead into the bread and butter things Hipkins has been talking about since he became leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister seven weeks ago. And, as a result...

Quick question around the cash bonanza yesterday - is it so blatant that it might actually work? An extra $300 million we don't have, just splashed all over the economy as part of a $2 billion package, made up of stuff that got cancelled. They are doing it because we have a cost-of-living crisis and we have a cost-of-living crisis because they overreacted to Covid. It's very likely that on Thursda...

The world's first virtual reality gaming facility is hitting Auckland CBD this week. The 3rd generation version of VR tech is the first of it's kind where gamers can move around a warehouse size space without carrying a backpack to virtually play. The location based experience is forecasted to boost our entertainment tourism sector, reaching us $1.575 billion by 2028. Zero Latency NZ manager Yolan...

A U-turn of sorts from the Government. About 1.4 million New Zealanders will be helped when increased main benefits, superannuation and student support payments increase in line with inflation. They'll rise from next month, alongside Childcare Assistance income threshold increasing. Former Reserve Bank Economist Michael Reddell told Mike Hosking a few years ago the Government changed from indexing...

National says the Government is fixing its own mistake by increasing superannuation and main benefits in line with inflation. The change kicks in from next month. National Deputy Leader Nicola Willis says the Government switched to calculating them based off average wages, instead of inflation. But she told Kate Hawkesby the problem is, average wages haven't kept up with inflation and prices. Will...

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has scrapped the nationwide speed limit reduction and clean car upgrade to support Kiwis. When paired with the scrapped TVNZ/RNZ merger and the biofuels mandate, Hipkins said the total $1 billion sum of the reprioritisation would be directed towards “bread and butter” issues. NZME business commentator Fran O'Sullivan says Chris Hipkins' approach seems to be more pragma...

Today has been a roller-coaster for Kiwi businesses tied to Silicon Valley Bank. RocketLab, Comvita, Xero, and ikeGPS were among the businesses who were due to lose money from the collapse until US Treasury stepped in to guarantee all deposits. Glenn Milnes, CEO of ikeGPS was among the many business owners surprised by the sudden collapse of  Silicon Valley Bank. Glenn Milnes says ikeGPS was diver...

Kiwi software accounting firm Xero has announced plans to cut up to 800 jobs to improve profits. Xero stated that these mass layoffs were needed to enable Xero's next phase of growth. Jarden's Director of Equity Research Elise Kennedy says this decision may be more than simple recession-proofing, as Xero needed to find new ways to grow. "Xero actually stood out against its tech global peers with n...

Higher interest rates haven't stopped Kiwi shoppers from spending up a storm. Retail spending has remained steady at $6.6 billion in February 2023, when compared with Stats NZ data from January. The Reserve Bank is looking for signs that demand is easing in the economy, but this data indicates this is yet to happen. NZ Herald business editor Liam Dann says the current spending rates are a mystery...

Let's talk tax. It is an election year, which means a number of key policies are coming under the spotlight. All the usual suspects - health, law and order, welfare and tax. A Newsroom article has proposed a fairer tax system that would, the author posits, bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots. Inequality is the enemy of society. It's fine if we're all poor and fine if we're all rich....

The author of the Newsroom piece, 'How to make New Zealand's Tax System Fairer?' says our tax policies need to change. This is especially if we want to do something serious about intergenerational inequalities, poverty, and inadequacies in our health and other social services. Louise Delany is a senior lecturer in the Department of Public Health at Otago University and is also a member of Tax Just...

Are people about to jump across the ditch? Dozens of Queensland Tourism representatives are taking a trade roadshow to New Zealand. The aim of the trip is to keep Queensland top of mind with trade partners in order to convert demand for travel into actual bookings. Tourism and Events Queensland Consumer PR and Marketing leader Shelley Winkel joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE     See omnystudio.com...

A former trade negotiator says companies shouldn't rely completely on China. New briefings seen by our newsroom reveal the government is worried foreign powers may use economic issues to back us into a corner. It shows trade officials have been widen the country's portfolio, to strengthen resilience against economic coercion. Charles Finny told Mike Hosking the Chinese economy isn't growing as fas...

House prices are down, but still not to pre-pandemic levels, according to QV's latest report. It shows prices have fallen 12.6 percent in the last year, but on average they are still 24.5 percent higher than February 2020. QV communications manager, Simon Petersen joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The number of jobs being advertised online continues to grow for another month. New Seek data shows the amount of jobs being advertised nationwide is up by a further 1 percent, following a rise of 2.2 percent in January. The report shows that the average number of applications received per job has declined. Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen says this doesn't mean the labour market has bou...

The predicted recession may be biting consumers in a matter of months.  Economists have been forecasting a recession to strike the New Zealand economy in 2023, aided by rising interest rates and predictions from the Reserve Bank. Milford Asset Management Portfolio Manager Sam Trethewey predicts the worst of the recession will hit in the back half of this year. Sam Trethewey says many households wi...

National's Nicola Willis is weighing in on the ongoing banking profit saga. The opposition's finance spokesperson is suggesting a select committee run a 'short, sharp' inquiry into the increased bank profits. Nicola Willis has proposed this select committee keep the scope of the inquiry focussed, hearing evidence from a narrow group of stakeholders. NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibsh...

There is a key line in the latest ANZ Business Outlook survey that may well mean some of our predictions around inflation sadly come true. The line is "in New Zealand, services inflation had also continued to build even as the global inflation pulse starts to fade; domestically generated inflation and our super tight labour market will keep the pressure on the Reserve Bank to remain tough on infla...

The Government is confident it's on the right track to deliver, despite tough economic times ahead. Net debt is $3.5 billion less than expected, at $70.5 billion in the seven month period to January 31. Finance Minister Grant Robertson told Mike Hosking a large number of countries are expected to end up in recession. He believes if New Zealand does, it'll be shallow and the country will come out s...