A review of things you need to know before you go home on Thursday; Auckland house prices drop, Auckland winning diversity race, NIMBYs worried, linkers soft, factories and tourism humming, swaps fall

Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
No mortgage rate changes to report today.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
No term deposit or savings rate changes either.

AUCKLAND PRICES DROP $50K
A housing downturn has hit the Auckland market with both prices and sales volumes falling substantially last month. Actually, that is the third month in a row for -10% or greater lower year-on-year volumes. Other centres also fell back, although regionally it was more mixed. But it should be noted that a fall-back in price December-to-January is not an unusual trend. But sliding volumes year-on-year are not. Interestingly, asking prices are falling too. And Colliers data shows capital gains are declining for investors too.

FOURTH MOST INTERNATIONAL
Auckland has beaten out London, Paris and New York in terms of its diversity and welcome for migrants. We are changing for the better as most residents notice and welcome (but some [white?] people do feel threatened by the changing ethnic mix).

NIMBYS FLEX THEIR MUSCLE
In a split that also has some hallmarks of a similar division, it seems a majority of councillors may not now be in favour of the latest Auckland housing rezoning.

DEMAND SOFTER THAN RATE
The September 2035 Government inflation linked tender saw the average weighted yield at 2.4% (2.5% last time) (plus future inflation). But for this tender there was lower demand reflecting the deterioration in global risk sentiment.

SIZZLING SUMMER
The one sector that you might think is suffering is far from doing so - manufacturing. The BNZ-BusinessNZ PMI for January is well in expansion territory and has been continuously since January 2015. In fact, the seasonally adjusted expansion was its highest over that period at 58. Since October 2012 manufacturers have only recorded one month of contraction, an impressive run.

TOURISM BOOMING TOO
National guest nights for December 2015 were +6.2% higher than in December 2014, Statistics New Zealand said today. The gains were everywhere, but best in the South Island.

STILL SIGNING UP OR SWITCHING
Home loan approvals were down last week from the week before, but that was due to the Auckland and Nelson regional holidays. But it should be noted that 2016 is running higher than the same period in 2015.

SUNCORP GROWS PERSONAL INSURANCE BUSINESS
Suncorp’s New Zealand general insurance business, which consists of Vero New Zealand and AA Insurance, has reported an insurance trading result of $74 million for the six months to December 31, 2015. The result is down 19% from the same period the previous year, while Gross Written Premiums are up 2.7%. Vero New Zealand chief executive, Paul Smeaton, says significant growth in personal insurance, particularly home and motor, have supported the result. 

WHOLESALE RATES LOWER
NZ swap rates were -3 and -4 bps lower today across curve today with a slight flattening bias. The 90-day bank bill rate also slipped and is now at 2.63%.

NZ DOLLAR HIGHER
The NZD is currently at 66.9 USc, 94.1 AUc and the TWI-5 is now at 71.2. Check our real-time charts here.

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