Hawke's Bay gets five star rating by ASB bank boosted by "bumper harvest"
A bumper grape harvest and booming housing market has resulted in Hawke's Bay being given a five star economic rating by ASB Bank (ASB).
In its latest Regional Economic Scorecard report, ASB rated Hawke's Bay as the nation's third best-performing economy - just below Otago and Bay of Plenty - for the quarter ending July.
"The Hawke's Bay was this quarter's equal-biggest mover, jumping 10 spots in the rankings to third," the report said.
"As a result, the region grabs this quarter's bronze medal and a five-star rating. In particular, the Bay's housing market is in a sweet spot. Annual house sales growth is running at 15%, while house prices are also increasing at a healthy clip.
"We also hear that the region's grape harvest this year was up a bumper 22 per cent on last year. With that in mind, we raise a glass to the region's economic performance this quarter."
ASB senior rural economist Nathan Penny said Hawke's Bay, like other areas with a large horticulture sector, had been amongst the better-performing regions for the last couple of quarters.
"So it's not a surprise to see the Bay doing well."
Hawke's Bay Wine Growers Association chairman Michael Henley said while the harvest was up on both last year and the 10-year average, if the quality of this year's vintage followed through into more sales, the economy would benefit further.
"The previous year [2017] was a relatively difficult vintage, so yields were down at about 33,500 tonnes," he said poingint out that the 10 year average yield for Hawke's Bay is about 38,500 tonnes a year. In 2017 that dropped down to about 33,500 tonnes and in 2018 up to 41,000. "So, it's really about 6 per cent higher than the 10-year average and that's great."
The year also provided a "very good vintage" in regards to quality.