Stats NZ places blame on rents, construction of new homes, and rates
Statistics New Zealand has revealed that rents, construction of new homes, and rates have contributed to a 3.2% increase in domestic inflation in the year ending September 2019.
Paul Pascoe, prices senior manager at Stats NZ, said that this is the largest annual increase since September 2011, when the GST increased to 15% from 12.5%.
“Household costs increased over the past year, although prices for construction of new homes, local authority rates, and insurance increased at a slower rate this year than last year,” Pascoe said.
Read more: Stats NZ releases 2018 Census highlights
Meanwhile, the consumers price index (CPI) increased 1.5%, with higher rent prices taking some of the blame, increasing 2.9% for the year ending September 2019 compared to only 2.3% last year.
“The increase in rents was felt more in some regions than others, up 4.1 percent for the year in Wellington compared with 1.8 percent in Auckland and 1.3 percent in Canterbury,” Pascoe said.
Housing and household utilities also increased 3.0%, while construction of new homes increased 2.8%. Wellington had the strongest increase in the price of building new homes, with 4.0% compared to only 2.7% in Auckland and 1.4% in Canterbury.
