Hotel room rates rise 5pc

Super economy tops $100b

Auckland’s economy has surpassed

$100 billion for the first time, Statistics New Zealand says. Figures released yesterday showed the Super City’s nominal GDP increased in value from

$95.3b to $101.4b in the year to March

2017. The increase was attributed to strong growth in rental, hiring and real estate services, as well as finance, insurance and construction firms. Statistics NZ said Auckland’s growth drove a lot of other economic activity, and it played an especially large role in the finance sector. The city’s economy is nearly 40 per cent of New Zealand’s GDP, which surpasses its share of the national population. It’s a classic case of supply and demand boosting hotel prices across New Zealand. Hotels in the most popular destinations nationwide raised their prices an average of 5 per cent last year, Hotels.com’s 2017 index revealed. Tourists paid an average price of $185 a night, with a night in Queenstown or Lake Tekapo being the most expensive. Rates in those tourist towns were an average of $284 and $254 respectively. The biggest price increases were provincial. Napier has lifted its prices 14 per cent since 2016, more than any other city. Lake Tekapo, Tauranga and Picton all hiked accommodation prices 9 per cent.

Banks urged to cut fees

Bank of New Zealand has reduced a total of 26 fees, prompting a call for other banks to follow suit. BNZ’s Mortgage One base fee drops from

$20 a month to $2. The fee for a personal loan facility falls from $250 to $50. Many credit card fees have also reduced, by an average of 45 per cent. Christopher Walsh, of finance website MoneyHub, said the move was significant, and credit-card holders would save $30 a year per card on average. ‘‘Further cuts on late-payment fees and over-limit fees are significant, dropping from $15 and

$20 respectively to a flat $2. Given this is a 90 per cent fee cut, we hope other banks will follow suit.’’

NZ ’watching’ Facebook saga

Privacy commissioner John Edwards says he is monitoring investigations into the harvesting of data from Facebook users, but has not yet decided to launch his own probe. Facebook shares have slumped more than 9 per cent since concerns surfaced late last week about the transfer of user information to British firm Cambridge Analytica – knocking about US$50 billion (NZ$70b) off the value of Facebook. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner said yesterday that it had received only one inquiry from a member of the New Zealand public on the matter. Edwards would ‘‘await the result’’ of inquiry processes in Britain, Canada and the US.