What happened Tuesday

Business / news

A review of things you need to know before you sign off on Tuesday; quiet on retail rates front, chilly on house sales front, farm sales low, tractor sales high, WUBS slapped by the FMA, swaps stable, NZD soft, & more

[updated]

19th Jul 22, 3:59pm by David Chaston

Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today (or if you already work from home, before you shutdown your laptop).

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
No changes today reported so far.

TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Unity raised their term deposit rates for terms 1 to 5 years. Update: Heartland Bank raised its 6 month rate to 3.60% and its one year rate to 4.20%. Both are now the highest of any bank offer. They are also increasing their savings account rates on Wednesday, June 27, 2022.

THE BIG CHILL
Things are getting decidedly chilly in auction rooms around the country. The number of residential properties being auctioned slumped further last week - just over a quarter sold under the hammer in the auctions we monitored.

BACK TO A WEAK STANDARD
Farm sales for the three months to June slipped more than the usual seasonal trends, and at 325 were -20% fewer than the year-ago levels. However they are now level-pegging with the equivalent pre-pandemic level, even if those 2019 standards actually very low (the past ten year average was 447 farms sold on this basis.)

40 YEAR HIGH
Farm sales may be low, but farmers are buying new tractors at a good rate again. 227 were sold in June, +6% more than a year ago. And this is +20% more than June pre-pandemic. The ten year June average pre-pandemic is 178, and the 2021 activity is actually the highest for any June since the glory years of 1982 an a Muldoon-era rush to win votes by releasing import licensing in force at the time.

STILL BELOW AVERAGE
Lifestyle block sales fell on the usual seasonal basis in June from May, but at 1555 for the three months to June, they are a third lower than for the same period in 2021, and almost -20% lower than pre-pandemic levels. The ten year average pre-pandemic was 1784.

WUBS SLAPPED
The FMA has censured Western Union Business Solutions (Australia) Pty Ltd for materially contravening key Standard Conditions of its derivatives issuer license relating to net tangible assets. Western Union’s contraventions left open the possibility of client harm and loss, and its continued entry into transactions that gave rise to further liabilities increased the possibility of harm. "We were concerned about the significant number and value of transactions that occurred while Western Union was in breach, as well as the duration of the breach, making this a material contravention", the FMA said.

THEY CAN COPE
In Australia, their central bank says Australian mortgage borrowers are generally well-placed to cope with higher interest rates. They say a good savings rate and better lending standards have contributed to that resilience.

MORE COMING, SLOWLY
The RBA released the minutes of its July meeting where they raised rates by +50 40 bps. They are now expected to lift the official cash rate by half a percentage point to 1.85% in August, and financial markets expect the cash rate to reach 3.5% by the middle of 2023. These levels are miles lower than the equivalent expectations track in New Zealand.

SWAP RATES FLAT
Wholesale swap rates may have firmed in a very minor way today. The 90 day bank bill rate was up +2 bps to 3.13%. The Australian 10 year bond yield is now at 3.51% and up +6 bps from this time yesterday. The China 10 year bond rate is now at 2.81% and unchanged. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is unchanged at 3.71%, and now just below the earlier RBNZ fix for this bond which was down -2 bps to 3.72% as the curve flattening extends. The UST 10 year is now at 2.97% and up +5 bps from this time yesterday.

EQUITIES MIXED BUT GENERALLY DOWN
On Wall Street was lower today, with the Monday S&P500 down -0.8%. Tokyo is up +0.7% in Tuesday trade so far. Hong Kong has opened down -1.2% and Shanghai has opened down -0.1%. The ASX200 is down -0.2% and the NZX50 -0.1% in late trade.

GOLD SOFT
In early Asian trade, gold is down -US$8 from this time yesterday, now at US$1708/oz.

NZD SLIPPED
The Kiwi dollar has slipped -30 bps from this morning, now at 61.6 USc. Against the AUD we have slipped -¾c to 90.2 AUc. Against the euro we are down -½c at 60.8 euro cents. That means our TWI-5 is now just under 70.6 and down -40 bps today.

BITCOIN FIRMER
Bitcoin is now at US$22,115 and up another +3.8% from this time yesterday. Volatility over the past 24 hours has been very high at +/-4.2%.

Daily exchange rates

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Source: RBNZ

Source: CoinDesk

Daily swap rates

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Source: NZFMA

This soil moisture chart is animated here.

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80 Comments

by dumbthoughts | 19th Jul 22, 4:08pm 1658203700

Be careful slagging off your old employer on Glassdoor (or presumably anywhere else for that matter) - https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/129313762/us-court-orders-glassdoor-to…

I, for one, am glad of Glassdoor's existence. Coming across that site saved me from taking a job with a rubbish outfit and pursuing a better opportunity. I met the guy who did take the job that was offered to me 18 months afterwards, and he said it was the worst time of his life.

by J.C. | 19th Jul 22, 4:22pm 1658204526

I know a few people who work with Zuru at a consulting level. Not really direct employees and not involved in the toy business. My impression of Nick is that he'd create a quite demanding environment. He believes in the idea of 'fail fast.' I would take the Glassdoor reviews with a grain of salt.

If you want to be in cruise mode, go and work for the NZ govt.

by Zachary Smith | 19th Jul 22, 5:16pm 1658207761

Not wanting to experience the worst time in your life doesn't mean "you want to be in cruise mode".

by Zen20 | 19th Jul 22, 5:31pm 1658208675

Zuru are an absolute disgrace - Nick and his celebrity loving sister should be exiled for the destruction to the environment their cheap chinese junk causes.

by J.C. | 19th Jul 22, 5:37pm 1658209028

Zuru are an absolute disgrace - Nick and his celebrity loving sister should be exiled for the destruction to the environment their cheap chinese junk causes

Bit harsh don't you think? Imagine the amount of plastic you've consumed in your life.

by Zen20 | 19th Jul 22, 5:41pm 1658209291

Correct - thanks to the likes of them we are all consuming more and more plastic everyday as it finds its way into every part of the food chain.

by J.C. | 19th Jul 22, 5:59pm 1658210349

Correct - thanks to the likes of them we are all consuming more and more plastic everyday as it finds its way into every part of the food chain.

Gotcha. As a martyr for the food chain, will you dispose of your computer and mobile phone? I guess not.

by Pa1nter | 19th Jul 22, 7:16pm 1658214995

I think it's one of those cases where the behaviour is bad if there's a profit involved.

But if you're a hapless consumer, it's all the manufacturers' fault.

by Richardfromauckland | 19th Jul 22, 7:25pm 1658215519

I'd say a computer lasts a little longer than the tat produced by Zuru.

Cheap, nasty knock off stuff.

by Pa1nter | 19th Jul 22, 7:30pm 1658215848

Its kids toys, what do you want them made from lead or something like the good old days?

by agnostium | 19th Jul 22, 5:43pm 1658209428

They target kids with techniques used by casinos to get people hooked ...

by RickStrauss | 19th Jul 22, 6:17pm 1658211458

They don't seem to make good PR decisions though, if this action is something to go by.

by tuisbest | 20th Jul 22, 11:10am 1658272214

Search zuru glassdoor reddit to read the review in question. Sounds to me like a well-written, thought-through piece of critique, even complimenting management for their strategic-thinking ability ('You might be competent strategists..').

I was expecting a bitter-sounding, insulting review from the kind of employee nobody would like working for them. This one was the complete opposite and sounds like heartfelt advice to other job applicants.

Zuru is going to have a hard time coming out of this with their honour intact (assuming they have/had any). Pursuing this case is complete proof of their poor people skills and inability to predict how their actions will impact others, i.e. they seem unable to realise that they're about to score a massive own goal.

by IT GUY | 19th Jul 22, 9:08pm 1658221730

you will just push people into the dark web if they feel there is no privacy on the "light web" IMHO we should have adopted dark web privacy and encryption a while back, fewer people would be being scammed now......

by DollarsandSense | 19th Jul 22, 4:15pm 1658204110

RBA lifted their cash rate by 50 bps points to 1.35% (your article mentions the RBA minutes had a 40 bps lift)

https://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/cash-rate/ 

by bw | 19th Jul 22, 4:17pm 1658204222

"Michele Bullock, Deputy Governor at the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), has just delivered a speech playing down the risks of aggressive rate hikes on Aussie mortgage holders."

by HouseMouse | 19th Jul 22, 4:41pm 1658205680

I reckon their house prices will plunge as far as ours, if not more, as their mortgages rates are floating and more immediately affected by increases to the OCR.

by J.C. | 19th Jul 22, 4:18pm 1658204296

For a little bit of perspective, the Chinese real estate market is the biggest single asset class in the world with an estimated market value of roughly $55 trillion (as per Dec 2021).

Larger than the US stock market.

Chinese real estate output just shrank by 7% YoY in Q2.

by HouseMouse | 19th Jul 22, 4:42pm 1658205752

Are there any China bulls left?

oops, that’s right, there’s several on this website who are.

by Pa1nter | 19th Jul 22, 7:31pm 1658215893

I'd imagine China's economy taking a dump is going to be big trouble for NZ.

by Snow | 19th Jul 22, 9:52pm 1658224331

I wonder how much exposure the western finance sector has to the Chinese property market. Fun times for all.

by vman | 19th Jul 22, 4:49pm 1658206163

Why I'm tired of the RBNZ blame game

Pattrick Smellie

pattrick@businessdesk.co.nz

Tue, 19 Jul 2022

With annual inflation peaking at 7.3% in New Zealand, the blame game is well and truly under way.

It’s the government’s fault for injecting the thick end of $65 billion of made-up money into the economy and fuelling a consumer and asset price boom that literally nobody predicted when the pandemic first hit in March 2020.

It’s the Reserve Bank’s fault for running loose monetary policy to accommodate the expected shocks of the pandemic and fuelling a consumer and asset price boom that literally nobody predicted when the pandemic first hit in March 2020.

The monetary authorities have been “so incompetent” and now we are collectively paying the price.

Well, hang on.

For a start, where were all the smart people saying this was the wrong thing to do back in March 2020, when every business owner and householder in not only the country, but the world, had no idea what might happen next?

Sure, there were a few armchair experts suggesting there would be greater costs from locking down than from letting a highly infectious, little understood, novel virus with no vaccines run through the global population on an experimental basis.

But those people had clearly never read any history or looked at how countries, mainly in Asia and Africa where pandemic control is commonly needed and well understood, that isolation to prevent transmission is a pandemic approach as old as time.

They were right that lockdowns would be mentally challenging, but were they suggesting that was a good enough reason to fail to get on top of a pandemic when such failure is demonstrably more disastrous than succeeding?

It took the Great Fire of London to provide the circuit-breaker that stopped the plague rampaging through that great city in 1666.

By comparison, the Great Wage Subsidy Payments of 2020 looks a small price to have paid to settle down a nervous nation, followed by the Great Bonfire of soft loans, lockdown compensation and accelerated infrastructure projects.

Healthy debate

We can now argue that some businesses gamed the wage subsidy system and either didn’t need it or were prevented from a healthy commercial failure thanks to government largesse.

But overall, the “least regrets” approach to the early parts of the pandemic was clearly highly effective.

We can argue now about whether the fiscal and monetary looseness went too far and went on for too long.

Let’s have that debate, but let’s not imagine that there was ever a point in time in 2020 or 2021 when it was obvious that things had gone too far or, in the case of rampant house price inflation, that there was an easy fix to the evidence of overkill that wouldn’t have choked off economic activity.

Are the critics of today’s inflation figures and absurdly high house prices really arguing that there was an option where the Reserve Bank started raising interest rates during, say, the Auckland lockdown last year?

Or that the government should have delivered a package of spending cuts in the 2021 or 2022 budget, when the crown accounts show New Zealand still has one of the lowest government debt-to-GDP ratios in the world?

More to the point, are these critics living in a bubble that assumes this is only happening in NZ?

The evidence is that if our monetary and fiscal authorities got it wrong, then so did everyone else.

Every other major developed country has inflation right now.

(BNZ/The Economist)

Many are looking at staggeringly high levels of government debt and, in emerging market economies, the debt overhang from the covid response threatens serious economic decline, particularly as global interest rates rise.

So, if we were wrong, everyone was wrong.

Wrong about Ukraine, too

A large number of us were also wrong in assuming that Russia was just stick-waving with its talk of invading Ukraine.

Even more of us have since been surprised to discover just how much wheat, grain, sunflower oil and transport fuel usually comes out of Ukraine and Russia, but can’t at the moment.

The impact on house prices is perhaps the most worrying aspect for NZ of the aftermath of the globally shared approach to staving off economic implosion caused by the emergence of a new global health threat.

Young New Zealanders face a lifetime of debt or renting because of the huge mismatch now between average house prices and average wages.

But that doesn’t alter the fact that just 3.2% of the working age population is recorded as being unemployed and labour participation rates remain among the highest in the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This is a very strange recession, in which everyone who wants a job should be able to find one, and that’s because of the response to covid to date.

Would it really have been better to do nothing, or far less, and watch businesses fail en masse and unemployment skyrocket, just so that some “told-you-so” chin-scratcher in July 2022 wouldn’t have the pleasure, with the benefit of hindsight, of saying that we got it all wrong?

It’s hard to imagine a government doing that.

Could and should the RBNZ have stopped the funding for lending programme before now? Undoubtedly, yes.

Would that really have changed the broad course of the outcomes the central bank is now seeking to deal with?

Undoubtedly, no – or at least, no more than at the margins.

Fair cop

None of this is to suggest that every decision a central banker or a government minister makes in a time of crisis should not be reviewed and questioned, with lessons learned for the future, if they're there to be learned.

Rather, the tone and manner in which that review and post facto scrutiny would benefit from just a speck of humility from those who were never in the hot seat, and a greater acknowledgement that these conditions are not just in New Zealand.

They're showing up in most countries like ours.

If there's a better way to respond to a pandemic, let’s work out what it might have been and should be in the future.

If central banks need reform in light of the inflation targeting regimes of the last 30-plus years either reaching their use-by date or at least needing an update, so be it.

But let’s do it with a calm eye to the future, rather than an angry eye to what might have been done better in circumstances where not only was nothing obvious, but the challenge was unprecedented and the institutional response did in fact save a swathe of jobs and livelihoods.

And if we want lower cost housing and better paying jobs, don’t look to the RBNZ for the policies to make either of those things happen.

They are in the hands of politicians and policymakers, and the failures there are intergenerational, not a product of an exhausting virus-inspired crisis.

by J.C. | 19th Jul 22, 5:22pm 1658208160

They're showing up in most countries like ours.

To be honest, people like Cindy and Robbo played the exceptionalism card about how great NZ was compared to the rest of the world. The media and sycophants lapped it up. These are the people who probably need to show some humility now they have egg all over their faces.

by Pa1nter | 19th Jul 22, 7:33pm 1658216030

*looks at NZs relative covid deaths*

Hmmmm.

by custard | 19th Jul 22, 5:24pm 1658208244

“Let’s have that debate, but let’s not imagine that there was ever a point in time in 2020 or 2021 when it was obvious that things had gone too far”

Try around mid 2021 when it was obvious that things had gone too far – many spoke out at the time but the madness continued, and here we are.

by J.C. | 19th Jul 22, 6:23pm 1658211824

Try around mid 2021 when it was obvious that things had gone too far – many spoke out at the time but the madness continued, and here we are.

Yes. Not to mention the flood of resignations within the RBNZ itself. How can anyone not come to the assumption that the organization was either dysfunctional or broken.

by vman | 19th Jul 22, 6:30pm 1658212235

"..Would it really have been better to do nothing, or far less, and watch businesses fail en masse and unemployment skyrocket, just so that some “told-you-so” chin-scratcher in July 2022 wouldn’t have the pleasure, with the benefit of hindsight, of saying that we got it all wrong?.."

Plenty of chin scratchers in here...

by vman | 19th Jul 22, 6:34pm 1658212451

by Rex Pat | 19th Jul 22, 5:26pm 1658208393

TLDR. Blah blah blah. Worst PM and Government in living memory.

by agnostium | 19th Jul 22, 5:48pm 1658209705

Best PM and government in living memory.

by kiwikidsnz | 19th Jul 22, 6:32pm 1658212374

...in the living memory of the recipients of the PIJF

by vman | 19th Jul 22, 6:42pm 1658212967

Woop,woop,conspiracy alert...

by vman | 19th Jul 22, 5:51pm 1658209912

Rexy,TLDR?? are you still at reading level 1?

by Pa1nter | 19th Jul 22, 7:32pm 1658215969

He's old, so has the memory of a goldfish.

This last half hour of life has been THE WORST.

by kiwikidsnz | 19th Jul 22, 5:34pm 1658208889

"Let’s have that debate, but let’s not imagine that there was ever a point in time in 2020 or 2021 when it was obvious that things had gone too far..."

Yep, that point was reached when Orr thought Tane Mahuta had a role to play in monetary policy.

by J.C. | 19th Jul 22, 5:40pm 1658209211

Yep, that point was reached when Orr thought Tane Mahuta had a role to play in monetary policy.

This was pointed out before about the Bank of Japan who participate in cultural rituals out of respect. However, the BOJ has not tried to build a monetary framework around Shinto.

by Te Kooti | 19th Jul 22, 5:45pm 1658209536

Can i just state that Tane Mahuta would have tightened rates as soon as property in the @rse end of nowhere was +65% yoy. This fiasco is all Pakeha despite Orr's hijacking of Maori culture to make him look virtuous. Too much hui and not enough doey as we say on the marae.

by kiwikidsnz | 19th Jul 22, 5:48pm 1658209731

by J.C. | 19th Jul 22, 6:01pm 1658210466

100% Pakeha. Well said.

by Brock Landers | 19th Jul 22, 7:41pm 1658216504

Since Orr is Cook Island Maori would it be acceptable to say the fiasco is all Maori?

Orr would that come across as racialist as your drivel?

by J.C. | 19th Jul 22, 8:49pm 1658220565

Since Orr is Cook Island Maori would it be acceptable to say the fiasco is all Maori?

Orr would that come across as racialist as your drivel?

I don't think it's erroneous to suggest that central banking is steeped in the lore of the Bank of England. What that has to do with Maori culture, I don't know.

by IT GUY | 19th Jul 22, 9:10pm 1658221850

Orr has shafted the people of Turangi

by lostinawoods | 20th Jul 22, 2:00am 1658239213

Poor thing, clearly found yourself on the wrong side of the fence.

Clearly racist slur is going to help.

by Zachary Smith | 19th Jul 22, 6:04pm 1658210645

A monetary framework based on bushido would be pretty cool though...

by Dale Smith | 19th Jul 22, 7:04pm 1658214255

Considering all the failed policies of Politicians and RB, that would be a lot of Seppuku then.

But of course, it is based on having honour to begin with.

by powerdownkiwi | 19th Jul 22, 8:11pm 1658218318

Actually, we could just fight over the housing

And the winners could eat the losers.

Because that's what they did when there weren't fridges.

Oh, let's conveniently forget that bit.

by IT GUY | 19th Jul 22, 9:11pm 1658221908

Bonsai and Mr Skakey hand man would have been funny......

by Ngrrk | 19th Jul 22, 9:45pm 1658223936

That show was brilliant. "Place your bets now!!"

by DTRH | 19th Jul 22, 5:37pm 1658209044

This is where we are now looking back a number of mistakes were made and some good ideas if you haven’t noticed the world is a crazy place right now. This government needs to get inflation under control, the housing market was out of control this should be allowed to crash to a place where most of the population can afford to buy or rent without using all their income to provide a place to live for family. Food and petrol should be gst free at the moment only businesses can claim back gst how is that fair on people without a business. No tax to be paid on first 30k and raise corporate tax from 28% to 35% . Government should invest more on infrastructure and encourage business investments for manufacturing so we don’t need to import so much which would provide good jobs.

by chebbo | 19th Jul 22, 5:16pm 1658207817

Good to see the MoH finally acknowledge today that reporting deaths with COVID rather than deaths from COVID is completely and utterly insane:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/471211/covid-19-health-leaders-give…

The only question left to answer is why they reported that way in the first place.

It's a bit like Taumata Arawai (3 Waters) improving the safety of our drinking water by redefining "safe":

https://www.greenpeace.org/aotearoa/press-release/govt-proposes-increas…

We are now improving the success of our COVID response by redefining "death".

by Nifty1 | 19th Jul 22, 5:20pm 1658208042

Tried to have this discussion with a few people and do they get heated or what... they don't want to accept that covid may not be as bad as the numbers suggest.

by chebbo | 19th Jul 22, 5:47pm 1658209657

Back when the vaccines were first being rolled out, I was banned from r/newzealand for (apparently) spreading anti-vax misinformation. At least I assume that was why - the ban came without warning and I received no response from the moderators when asked for an explanation. This was a 10 year old account.

The main points I was trying to make at the time were:

The vaccine isn't going to be as effective as what we're being told, since the virus mutates quickly (this was pre-Delta)
Reporting deaths and hospitalisations with COVID rather than from it makes no sense, and is terribly misleading
We should be focusing efforts on at-risk groups, rather than a scorched-earth policy of lockdowns and mandates

Looking at the state of that same sub-reddit today, I have absolutely no desire to go back there, but I am feeling somewhat vindicated by the course of recent events.

by vman | 19th Jul 22, 6:43pm 1658212997

Woop,woop,conspiracy alert...

by vman | 19th Jul 22, 6:46pm 1658213170

Duplicated

by kpnuts | 19th Jul 22, 6:12pm 1658211133

very simply -- the intention was always to create as much fear and present worst case scenarios to encourage more and more compliance -

now we are moving into endemic ---and mental wellbeing is in crisis -- they are trying to reduce the level of fear and anxiety that they have caused and minimise the bad news to hopefully get people moving on and living with it

Adding the deaths of shooting, car crash and even terminal cancer patients never had any legitimacy in the health circles -- but for the majority of the population they only heard the headline numbers!

SPIN SPIN SPIN SPIN ....

by chebbo | 19th Jul 22, 6:42pm 1658212952

They certainly make sure to highlight whenever the figures include a child under the age of 10.

In reality, little Johnny fell of his bike and broke his collar bone, went to hospital, tested positive for COVID-19 as part of the inpatient process, and consequently goes down as a COVID hospitalisation in the statistics.

Then when RNZ insists on reporting "X amount of COVID-19 hospitalisations today, including a child under the age of 10", people read that and think "omg, this terrible virus is putting our tamariki in ICU!".

Talk about misinformation. It's shameless reporting, and extremely misleading behaviour from what is supposed to be our public-service broadcaster.

by Noncents | 19th Jul 22, 7:01pm 1658214091

It's the kids under 9months that is the real con. It is primairly the mother in hospital, and the poor baby is just kept with her, as too young to be left with others (breastfeeding etc...)

So what you have is a mum in for another treatment, and both her and baby test positive. Cue one heartbreaking story about a baby in hospital with covid.

by vman | 19th Jul 22, 7:24pm 1658215481

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/new-covid-advice-on-masks-work…

New Covid advice on masks, work from home from chief medical officer

New Covid advice on mask wearing and work from home has been issued by Australia’s chief medical officer.

Crikey,is there no anti vax,QAnon,anti 5g crystal rubbers in Australia that can put them straight,now the borders are open,perhaps a few of ours can get over there to point out the error in their thinking.

by False economies | 19th Jul 22, 7:56pm 1658217411

Like i said a few days ago, masks will be mandatory again soon. If not by govt then by employers suffering with people off sick/isolating. Flu is rampant too.

by HouseMouse | 19th Jul 22, 8:20pm 1658218833

Here's our Phoney, virtue-signalling PM leading by example again - not.

Mask-less in a big crowd gathering:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/pm-jacinda-ardern-photographed-maskless-w…

by agnostium | 19th Jul 22, 8:31pm 1658219462

Classic

by Noncents | 19th Jul 22, 11:03pm 1658228604

You fail to understand something in the article. "Mr Butler said that he believed the true number of Australians with Covid was much higher than the official numbers suggest."

Our own Dr Bloomfield agrees, he mentioned a while back our covid infections could be up to twice the official stats.

So it is likely twice as many people have it... yet the deaths and hospitalisations from covid are not skyrocketing. In fact they are dropping once you count and report the numbers correctly (as seen today)

Maybe, just maybe, it isn't the end of the world. I mean;

No one is stopping you wearing a mask. If you feel unsafe wear one.
No one is stopping you getting vaccinated. If you feel unsafe get as many jabs as you want.
No one is stopping you from choosing not to go out. If you feel unsafe in public, stay at home.

It's called personal responsibility. Try it one day, it's great.

by Eschaton | 20th Jul 22, 7:28am 1658258903

Masks are not self defense, they mitigate spread if you're shedding the virus.

by tuisbest | 20th Jul 22, 9:02am 1658264542

The only question left to answer is why they reported that way in the first place.

The question is actually easy to answer.

When someone dies, it can be surprisingly hard to find the cause. Even if there is a smoking gun, the cause of death might be the bullet, or a heart attack from fright when the bullet missed, or an accident while running away, etc.

For example, someone with Covid had a coughing fit while driving and then died in a car accident. Clearly, if the person did not have Covid, they'd (most likely) not have died in a car accident. So Covid caused their death, right? But an examiner might not even know about the coughing fit, and was the Covid diagnosis in the instance relevant or not? You can argue both sides.

And what if Covid contributed, rather than caused the death? Is some medical professional supposed to say the death was 50% caused by asthma and 30% by air pollution and 20% by Covid?

Writing criteria for 'whether someone died from Covid' is no easy feat if you think about it for a few seconds. While facing a spreading wildfire, you don't have time to wait for autopsy results and a coroner report (which might be inconclusive in any case). You need data stat and incomplete/bad data is arguably better than no data, and often the best data you'd ever be able to get anyway.

by Nifty1 | 19th Jul 22, 5:29pm 1658208584

Easiest way of reducing inflation by holding companies to account for price gouging? https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/129316465/motorists-right-to-call-foul-a…

Honestly, why don't Government and officials hold these corporates to account...

by chemistpeter@g… | 19th Jul 22, 6:07pm 1658210867

I make more profit that 2021. But you need to maintain margin to fund future purchases at a substantially higher cost. This seems to be forgotten.

by Nzdano | 19th Jul 22, 6:51pm 1658213479

Why anyone still buys off the big fuel companies I do not know. It's not like we don't have a choice.

Waitomo and NPD particularly are way cheaper

by powerdownkiwi | 19th Jul 22, 8:14pm 1658218476

That's not the point.

Are you a Govt tout, the way rexpat is obviously one of the buffoons?

You're both wrong - as are the current Greens. Competition - food, fuel, whatever - isn't the issue here. Well, except ultimate competition. That's called war - coming to a place near you, soon.

by HW2 | 19th Jul 22, 7:20pm 1658215236

Farm sales are down, is that because of high payout. I don't think so as on- farm costs have been increasing faster than cpi inflation. Funding is probably a big issue, you need a lot of equity and then the higher interest costs

by Pa1nter | 19th Jul 22, 7:29pm 1658215743

Its lifestyle block sales, isn't it?

I imagine the demand pressure from people wanting to flee the cities has subsided.

by rchadz | 19th Jul 22, 11:08pm 1658228925

The demand pressure from people wanting to flee the cities has subsided since they can now flee to Oz

by Squishy | 19th Jul 22, 7:45pm 1658216704

I think RBA will be looking at the mess RBNZ is in due to not tackling inflation and thinking "No thanks!"

by kiwikidsnz | 19th Jul 22, 8:44pm 1658220244

Yep, on to it

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-18/treasurer-jim-chalmers-warns-on-…

by HouseMouse | 19th Jul 22, 8:14pm 1658218448

Doing some reading and research on the early European social and economic history of Auckland, it's amazing how much of the real estate speculation of the 1870s and 1880s resonates with today.

Some extracts from the book 'The Grey Lynn Book' by Matt McEvoy:

'The 1886 crash, followed by an 1888 collapse in property values, found many wealthy hubristic investors, land agents and speculators were over-leveraged. Precarious positions were exposed, and many were bankrupted in a few short months.'

'Stone writes that cheap credit was the fuel that drove the speculative land price bubble: 'It was amazing how little capital investors needed, to carry out their land deals.' When interest on loans could not be paid due to slow land sales, the BNZ as main creditor threatened to take control of the estate to recover its losses.'

by IT GUY | 19th Jul 22, 9:15pm 1658222124

Mate read the RBNZ history of bank crashes, failures etc in NZ.....

by HouseMouse | 19th Jul 22, 11:18pm 1658229490

So here we go, more desperation and poor policy from the government. Just announced tonight, significant lifts in income caps for Kiwibuild, and the house price caps:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/kiwibuild-income-and-price-caps-adjusted-…

Interesting timing to announce, late night on a Tuesday

by WellingtonInvestor | 20th Jul 22, 1:44am 1658238280

It makes almost no difference because there are hardly any available. Most are in Auckland. Haven't seen anything in Wellington. The government aren't building them, developers are, and they can make more selling privately. But I do wonder if the government can see things changing with few new houses selling.

by HouseMouse | 20th Jul 22, 10:12am 1658268724

But developers can use it to underwrite new development right?

it will make very little difference mainly because of the high and rising cost of finance. Also it’s almost impossible for developers to deliver 3 bedroom townhouses to the market for less than 850k…

Who the hell is advising these muppets???

by WellingtonInvestor | 26th Jul 22, 2:10am 1658758213

You can buy brand new 3 beddys, detached, on a parcel of land, in areas outside the main centres, for less than 700k. Which is less than the kiwibuild rate for these areas. So I would expect that some developers may take up those. It is the land that is a big part of the cost in the main centres.

But IMO, the goverment has baked in the high build costs. Even if building material costs drop over the next few years as things return to normal, will they drop the price to buy a kiwibuild home? Even now you can buy a non kiwibuild home cheaper, and they aren't selling, and developers are dropping their prices on a regular basis. I have seen one drop from $750 > $725 > $699 > $690

by Eschaton | 20th Jul 22, 7:22am 1658258527

When will deposit rates peak? Any honest bankers on here please advise.