Business confidence lifts from negative, finds new survey

First cracks of light? BNZ's Tony Alexander says that businesses may be experiencing conditions less dire than portrayed. Photo / Geoff Walker

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.

"Some respondents note recent stabilising in their sectors, but others also fear that the recent gains may be short-lived and come spring a new decline may set in," said Alexander.

Overall, uncertainty about what lay ahead still appeared understandably to be quite high.

Many comments had been made about the media over-playing the downturn, which might suggest businesses were experiencing less dire conditions than were generally being portrayed, he said.

But many expressions of concern were also made about the reduced availability of credit associated with the ongoing credit crisis.

- NZPA