Business confidence lifts from negative, finds new survey

Signs of an improving housing market are thought to be part of the reason for a lift out of negative territory in the latest BNZ confidence survey.

The survey of readers of the BNZ Weekly Overview newsletter found pessimists and optimists equally balanced at 35.8 per cent each, with 28.5 per cent of respondents expecting the economy to remain the same during the coming year.

That gave a flat net reading, an improvement on the net 23 per cent who were pessimistic in March and the strongest result since a net 27 per cent were optimistic last September.

BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander said there was no clear indication of what was behind the improved sentiment, apart from the sharp improvement in residential real estate, where buyers had returned and listings were starting to dry up.

To read the full NZ Herald article click here

Posted: 6 Apr 2009

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