Workers who will lose their jobs when the Summit Wool Spinners' Oamaru plant closes could struggle to find work and may have to move, the Otago Chamber of Commerce says.

The Reserve Bank says the OCR will stay at a record low of 2.5 per cent, as rising house prices are singled out as a threat to New Zealand's financial stability.

Prices unexpectedly fell by 0.2 per cent during the December quarter, said Statistics NZ this morning, taking the annual rate of inflation to just 0.9 per cent. Seasonal falls in vegetable prices helped push the CPI down.

New Zealand's economy surged in the December quarter to the best level since mid-2007, according to the latest Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion.