A review of things you need to know before you go home Thursday; used car imports rise, Crown accounts impressive, house rents turn lower, huge Aussie trade turnaround; swaps and NZD stable

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

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
No changes to report today.

DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
ASB has sliced -25 bps off its SavingsPlus bonus saver account.

MOTORING ALONG
Used import car sales in June came in at 13,339 for the month. That is +11.2% higher than the same month a year ago and has these imports running a rate of over 157,000 per year. You have to go back to mid 2004 and the heyday of 'Japanese imports' to find a similar rate.

TAX FLOWS DRIVE BIG SURPLUSES
The Crown accounts for the eleven months to May came in very strong in the report out today. The surpluses are building up fast. On an OBEGAL basis, the eleven month surplus is $4.5 bln. On a full accounting basis including all valuation gains and losses, it is a massive $11.1 bln. Both measures are far ahead of forecast. In fact, the $2.3 bln surplus just for the month of May 2017 is the highest monthly OBEGAL surplus ever. The lolly jar is full, ready for the election scramble. Every interest group will have its hand out. Income taxes collected from individuals are running +6.5% more than for the equivalent period last year. For companies it is up +17.1%. GST is ahead +8.4%. (And here are some interesting tidbits; fuel taxes and RUC are only up +3.1%, proving we are travelling further on a litre of fuel. Energy intensity is falling. And tobacco taxes are down -5.8% showing that higher taxes are in fact reducing demand.)

RENTS TURNING LOWER
Yesterday, we reported lower growth in house prices, or even some falls. Today we got rent data and that shows stable rents in June at $420/week for a 3 br house, a level we have been at all year. In Auckland, the June level is now $600/week which is the lowest level since September last year. In Wellington levels are static. Christchurch rents have dropped sharply to $410/week and that is a level that was normal in June 2013.

LENDME CHANGES NAME, GETS UNDERWAY IN AUSTRALIA
New Zealand peer-to-peer lender LendMe has changed its name to Zagga and has launched in Australia, having obtained the required Australian Securities and Investments Commission licences. CEO Marcus Morrison says Zagga has facilitated $7 million of lending to date in Australia. The chairman of Zagga Australia is ex-Westpac NZ CEO Peter Clare. Since its December 2015 NZ launch, Zagga says it has processed more than $5 million worth of loans, the average of which was around $350,000 for a two year term, with an LVR of 55%. The average investment is about $150,000 but ranges from $1,000 to $1.5 million. Investor returns to date have ranged from 6.44% to 11.00% net of fees per annum. 

STUNNING IMPROVEMENT
The New Zealand Government wasn't the only one reporting large positive results. The Australians also reported a very healthy improvement in their trade surplus of goods and services. It came in at +AU$2.5 bln in May, far above the -$2.0 bln deficit in the same month a year ago. For the twelve months to May, they had a AU$9.4 bln surplus, way better than the -AU$36.4 bln deficit in the 12 months to May 2016. (And for the cynics, the contribution from NZ banking profits was a year-on-year decline.)

DOWN IN VANCOUVER TOO
The housing sales slowdown is not only appearing in Auckland. It is showing up in Vancouver, Canada as well. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reports that residential property sales in the region totaled 3,893 in June 2017, an -11.5% decrease from the 4,400 sales recorded in June 2016, which was an all-time record. Last month’s sales were +14.5% above the 10-year June sales average. Their market is splitting into an apartment section, which is rising in demand, and a house section which is seeing falling demand.

WHOLESALE RATES UNCHANGED
There has been a -1 bp slip in all rates today, partly mirroring the -2 bps fall in benchmark rates in New York overnight.

NZ DOLLAR UNCHANGED
The Kiwi dollar is essentially unchanged as well at 72.7 USc. On the cross rates we are a little higher, trading now at 95.7 AUc and at 64.1 euro cents. That leaves the TWI-5 at 76.8. Bitcoin has risen today, up +1.4%% from this time yesterday to US$2,621.

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