A lower cost to lower the casket
New Zealanders are paying less for funerals, figures from a large transTasman funeral business show.
The latest financial report from Australian sharemarket-listed InvoCare, which owns funeral businesses in both New Zealand and Australia, showed that although
Australians paid marginally more per service in the first six months of
2019, compared to the same period the year before, Kiwi families paid less.
In the first half of 2019, InvoCare businesses in New Zealand handled
3463 funerals with gross sales of
A$25.1 million for an average of just under A$7250.
That compared to 2766 funerals in the first six months of 2018 with gross sales of A$20.8m for an average of just under A$7520.
In its first-half update to shareholders, InvoCare acknowledged a fall in the average spend per funeral in New Zealand.
That sum is regularly reported to be between $8000 and $10,000, but the cost can be far less for cremation-only packages which return ashes to families, who can then organise their own celebration of their loved one’s life.
These cremation-only packages can cost as little as $2000.
‘‘Customers are seeking greater
‘‘Customers are seeking greater transparency (information and pricing) and an increased involvement in the funeral arrangement.’’
transparency (information and pricing) and an increased involvement in the funeral arrangement,’’ InvoCare acknowledged in its presentation to shareholders.
‘‘The majority of customers want increased levels of service in a modern location that delivers value for money,’’ it said.
InvoCare’s market share has risen in New Zealand as it bought up local funeral homes. Its brands now include Eco Friendly Funerals, Simplicity Funerals, Tilton, Opie + Pattinson and Whitestone Funerals.
While death rates in New Zealand had been lower than expected, the ageing population meant the trend was for increases, share analysis company Morningstar noted in an update on InvoCare on Christmas Eve.
‘‘The latest estimates from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Statistics New Zealand project the annual growth in the number of deaths to increase progressively and peak at around 2.8 per cent in Australia and 2.3 per cent in New Zealand by 2034,’’ Morningstar said.
Statistics NZ said deaths were expected to increase steadily. From
31,000 deaths in 2016, it was highly likely they would exceed 40,000 by the mid-2030s and 50,000 by the late
2040s.