Auckland Business Confidence Slides

The Auckland Chamber of Commerce survey of the region’s businesses has revealed a massive drop in confidence for the coming months as businesses cope with consumers who are cautious with decision making, local bodies and institutions who are delaying the start of new projects, and access to affordable finance.

The survey was undertaken last week and covered over a thousand businesses across the region.

Of those surveyed, only a net 18% were more positive than negative in respect of the next six months compared to a net 35% in June and a net 32% in March.

By comparison businesses owners were more confident in their own firms with a net 41% having confidence in the six-month period ahead.

Other findings included:

17% of businesses were finding it harder to recruit skilled personnel compared with 13% in March.

The next three months would see hours worked up, along with a small growth in employment.

Over 50% of the respondents expected costs to be up, but only 30% expected to be able to increase selling prices.

The two most limiting factors for business growth were demand (54%) and finance (22%).

Those sectors most affected by demand were manufacturing, professional services, the service sector, technology, communications and the trades.