Regional Growth – a composite of several measures

Quarterly
According to the National Bank Regional Trends, Taranaki recorded a decrease in growth for the June 2010 quarter of 1.1 percent.

Year-on-year
Year-on-year growth for Taranaki reflected an improvement of 1.7 percent.

CPI
The Consumer Price Index was 0.3 percent higher in the June 2010 quarter relative to the previous quarter.

GDP
Gross Domestic product was up 0.6 percent in the March 2010 quarter, following a 0.9 percent increase in the December 2009 quarter.

Unemployment rate
Unemployment declined in the June 2010 quarter to 4.9 percent for Taranaki, well below the national average of 6.7 percent.

Births'
Live resident births in Taranaki reflected an increase of 2.6 percent for the 12 months to June 2010, relative to the previous 12 months.

Deaths
Resident deaths were down 2.4 percent in Taranaki for the 12 month period to June 2010, relative to the 12 months to June 2009.

Rental Accommodation
The median rent for New Plymouth was $280 per week (May 2010), which reflects little change from the May 2009 result.

Retail Trade
Retail sales for the Taranaki region for the June 2010 quarter were $390.2 million, an increase on the March 2010 quarter ($371m) and similar to the June 2009 result ($387.7m).

Home Affordability
Home affordability reflected a quarterly improvement for Taranaki of 6.2 percent.

Consumer Confidence
Consumer confidence for the combined Taranaki, Manawatu and Whanganui regions improved in the June 2010 quarter, with optimists outweighing pessimists.

Employment Confidence
Employment confidence for the Taranaki, Manawatu and Whanganui region also improved in the June 2010 quarter, relative to the previous quarter.

External Migration
For the 12 months to June 2010, there were 1,122 international arrivals and 1,043 international departures from Taranaki, resulting in a net gain of 79 people.

Building Consents – Residential
For the 12 month period to June 2010, residential consents valued $188m were issued in the Taranaki region, an increase of 38 percent from the equivalent period to June 2009.

Building Consents – Non Residential
The number of non-residential consents declined in the year to June 2010 of 32 percent relative to the previous year.

Commercial Accommodation
Although room nights in Taranaki for the 6 months to June 2010 declined 0.5 percent relative to the same period in 2009, guest nights increased 1.3 percent and length of stay rose 3.1 percent.

Refer to the Taranaki Trends for more information about the Taranaki Economic Environment.