Good news for Marlborough’s economy

Leading economist Brad Olsen said Marlborough’s strong primary sector was helping it through some tough economic times.

Brad and colleague Nick Brunsdon from Infometrics spoke at Council’s Economic, Finance and Community Committee meeting last week providing an in-depth snapshot of the region’s economic profile.

“You’d be one of the only economies across the country that’s seen an actual improvement in agriculture, forestry and fishing GDP (gross domestic product),” Brad said. “A large part of that is because of your viticulture focus.”

Brad said there were challenging economic times ahead with inflation the chief concern.

High national immigration of 146,000 over the last year had created the strongest population growth New Zealand had seen since 1946 which was putting pressure on services and infrastructure nationally.

“On one hand migration has provided a lot of people and resources to do work in the economy, but they require a whole bunch of services,” he said.

Brad didn’t expect any easing of interest rates any time soon.“That’s a slow burn,” he said.

Nick Brunsdon said Marlborough’s population of 52,000 was one of the strongest around the country in terms of consumer spending.

“We’re seeing considerable cost of living pressures on households and while people are leaving the shop with slightly fewer bags, here in Marlborough spending grew

6.3 per cent compared with

4.3 per cent nationally,” he said.

“That puts Marlborough among one of the highest growth regions in the country which suggests a strong degree of consumer confidence.”

There was good news in the construction sector too with non-residential building consents at $96M in the year up to December 2023.

House prices in Marlborough were still some of the most affordable in the country.

“Marlborough has always been relatively affordable and having house prices come back a bit has improved that further,”

Nick said.

Infometrics provides a detailed annual economic profile of the district and quarterly economic reports which are available on Council’s website.

Mayor Nadine Taylor with Brad Olsen from Infometrics