\u201cWhile we often see a lift in households\u2019 spirits at this time of year, there is reason to expect some of that Christmas cheer will continue into 2026,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re starting to see some more encouraging signs in the economy, and hopefully 2026 will be a more positive year for most New Zealand households.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leading the charge was the increasing numbers of borrowers rolling on to lower interest rates.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat process will continue into the new year and will help to boost households\u2019 disposable incomes right across the country,\u201d Ranchhod said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we have seen some upwards pressure on borrowing rates recently, most borrowers who are refixing now will still be rolling on to much lower rates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ranchhod said one-year fixed mortgage rates were around 130 basis points (bps) lower than this time last year.<\/p>\n
Two-year fixed mortgage rates had dropped by 220bps since December 2023, he said.<\/p>\n
Ranchhod said spending appetites have also been on the rise.<\/p>\n
The number of people who say it\u2019s a good time to make a major purchase rose 7.1 points to -3.5, according to the survey.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpending remains strongest in the lower South Island. But in contrast to the past year, we\u2019re now seeing spending picking up right across the country. That includes Auckland, which is now the most upbeat part of the country,\u201d Ranchhod said.<\/p>\n
Westpac senior economist Satish Ranchhod. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
Ranchhod acknowledged that many households across the country are still dealing with tough conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cost of living remains a major concern, as does softness in the jobs market. Those challenges will be with us for a while yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Demographically, men were optimistic for the first time this year, rising 3 points for an index score of 102.6.<\/p>\n
Women remain pessimistic at 90.6, despite seeing an increase of 7.2 points over the December quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cClose to half of women believe they are worse off financially than they were a year ago, compared with just over a third of men,\u201d said Imogen Rendall, market research director of McDermott Miller Ltd.<\/p>\n
Rendall said confidence amongst younger generations was \u201crelatively buoyant\u201d in comparison to older New Zealanders.<\/p>\n
Confidence for those aged 18-29 lifted 14.4 points to 108.2 in the December quarter. For those aged 30-49, confidence rose 9.5 points to 101. <\/p>\n
Those aged 50+ saw confidence increase by just 1.8 points to 90.8.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey remain firmly pessimistic this quarter,\u201d Rendall said.<\/p>\n
Cameron Smith is an Auckland-based business reporter. He joined the Herald in 2015 and has covered business and sports. He reports on topics such as retail, small business, the workplace and macroeconomics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWhile we often see a lift in households\u2019 spirits at this time of year, there is reason to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[836,3225,3017,138,18399,2950,3311,219,4729,29012,78,700,25449,25619,117852,17935,111,139,69,15407,20488,99504,8822,1961,61,17239,379],"class_list":["post-187377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-836","tag-according","tag-ahead","tag-business","tag-christmas","tag-confidence","tag-consumer","tag-economy","tag-highest","tag-households","tag-in","tag-latest","tag-level","tag-lifts","tag-mcdermott","tag-miller","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pick","tag-reached","tag-spirits","tag-survey","tag-this","tag-to","tag-westpac","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}