Stats Show Booming Business in Waimakariri

The report, commissioned by the Waimakariri District Council and released this week, is brimming with positive improvements on the year prior. Commercial (non-residential) consents top the list with a massive 177.7% increase for the year to September 2023, compared to just +3.7% nationally.

“Waimakariri’s non-residential construction sector built up a strong pipeline for future activity over the September 2023 year, with consents worth $81m issued, buoyed by a $13m consent for retail building,” says the report.

House sales, consumer spending, employment, guest nights and GDP have also increased in the past year.

Enterprise North Canterbury (ENC) Business Support Manager Miles Dalton says, “Waimakariri is experiencing an excellent level of GDP growth at 2.4%, outpacing national growth of 1.7%. This is fuelled by a strong performance in the construction and professional service sectors. Commercial consents have rocketed up, showing that this is a fast-growing business community. All the numbers appear to be heading in the right direction.”

Local businesses are feeling the upturn too, with the recent North Canterbury Business Opinion Survey in October showing a marked increase in confidence amongst North Canterbury businesses.

Jerome O’Sullivan, Development Manager at Ravenswood Central – one of North Canterbury’s largest new developments – says, “We are very encouraged by the district’s growing business confidence, and we see this in the number of increased commercial leasing enquiries we are receiving, as well as the new businesses opening in the area.

“We are optimistic this will continue to grow over the next 12 months with the swell of business activity, increase in consumer spending and commercial interest in the district.”

Mr Dalton says there were a couple of less positive stats in the report, most notably the dairy payout, which Infometrics forecasts will drop to $217m from $246m last year.

“Unfortunately, the farmgate dairy payout for Waimakariri farmers is lower than in previous years, and is not expected to improve in the short term.

“Additionally, conversations with hospitality and retailers show that some in these sectors are still doing it tough, but the positive results shown in this report bode well for better performance next year”.

“Aside from this, the latest Infometrics report paints a very positive picture overall for Waimakariri.”

View the full September 2023 Infometrics QEM for Waimakariri here.