Regional Profile: Is Hawke’s Bay The Next Key Growth Area?
Recent articles on the property market have begun to turn their attention to Hawke’s Bay as a region of growing potential – and has even referred to it as ‘the new Tauranga’. It’s backed up by the stats: Hawke’s Bay is experiencing higher-than-anticipated population growth.
“The region is experiencing some of the strongest house value growth in New Zealand, in stark contrast to many other regions that are experiencing a slowdown in growth.
Hastings, in particular, stands out with quarterly growth to January 31 of 10.8 per cent while Central Hawke’s Bay continues to build on a strong annual growth figure of 19.6 per cent.
Napier is up 11.3 per cent from this time last year and 4.3 per cent in the last quarter alone.”
New Zealand Herald, 15 February 2019
Hawkes Bay’s regional economy in 2018 experienced steady growth over the previous year. Economic activity in the region (and nationally too) has fluctuated considerably over the long term. However, the Hawkes Bay area has recorded generally positive growth throughout the last ten plus years. The rate of growth weakened significantly over 2008/2009 before recovering noticeably overall, since then. The Hawkes Bay region is also set to receive a $1.19 billion investment boost from the government’s He Poutama Rangatahi (HPR) and the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF).
HPR’s focus is on reducing youth unemployment, while the PGF is a $1 billion per annum New Zealand wide investment over three years to ensure that regional NZ thrives through productive, sustainable economic growth. In Hawkes Bay, this funding will go towards supporting a development case for a Hawkes Bay Food Innovation Hub intended to support the invocation of new facilities and industries that would provide opportunities for iwi investment and employment.
The commercial sector in Hawke’s Bay is also projecting promising growth. In March this year the Hastings City Business Association overwhelming voted to be established as a BID – a Business Improvement District – which will further enable and encourage future business development.
Hastings stands out as having the strongest growth in the Hawke’s Bay, and is increasingly sought-after for both commercial and residential property.
Click here for more information about property investment opportunities in the Hawke’s Bay.
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