Auckland city business and economy report 2008
Executive summary |
Past economic performance |
Relative international economic performance |
Economic structure |
Population |
Labour market |
Retail trade and tourism |
Building and property |
Inflation, interest rates and the exchange rate |
Focus on manufacturing |
Focus on Rosebank 2030 |
Economic outlook
| Auckland city in figures |
Download the report
Relative international economic performance
Despite Auckland's economy growing faster than New
Zealand's over the past ten years, it has underperformed relative to many of its
international comparators. |
Auckland region's economy has underperformed relative to
the economies of many of its international comparator cities over the past ten
years. The Auckland region ranked in the middle of the nine selected cities when
measured according to growth in total GDP between 1997 and 2007. However, much
of the city's economic growth was driven by an expanding population - the
Auckland region experienced the second highest population growth among the nine
cities.
Consequently, Auckland's ranking drops to second from the
bottom when growth is measured according to GDP per capita. The relatively slow
growth in Auckland's GDP per capita reflects its low productivity growth. When
measured in US dollars after being adjusted for relative price differences,
Auckland's GDP per capita was the lowest among the nine cities.
The 2007 Demographia study ranked the Auckland region 80th
out of 116 cities (on a GDP per capita basis) with populations exceeding one
million in Europe, North America, Japan and Australasia.3
Relative international performance
| City - region |
Average growth per annum (1997-2007)4 |
Real GDP per capita 2007
(2007 $US PPP)5 |
| Real GDP |
Real GDP per capita |
Population |
| Auckland (region) |
3.9% |
1.8% |
2.0% |
$29,428 |
| Sydney |
2.8% |
1.8% |
1.0% |
$35,947 |
| Perth |
4.5% |
2.9% |
1.5% |
$46,664 |
| Brisbane |
4.7% |
3.0% |
1.7% |
$32,576 |
| Melbourne |
3.6% |
2.2% |
1.4% |
$33,108 |
| Vancouver |
3.0% |
1.9% |
1.2% |
$35,595 |
| Singapore |
5.6% |
3.5% |
2.1% |
$49,069 |
| Portland |
4.5% |
3.2% |
1.3% |
$42,280 |
| Seattle |
3.4% |
2.7% |
0.7% |
$47,754 |
Source: Infometrics estimates.
3 Source: Demographia (2007), Gross Domestic Product (GDP-PPP) Estimates for
Metropolitan Regions in Western Europe, North America, Japan and Australasia. (www.med.govt.nz/upload/53549/Indicators-Report-2007.pdf)
4 GDP and population growth was assumed to be equal to state growth for Australian
and Canadian cities.
5 Purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates were used to adjust for price
differences between countries. Official exchange rates were used in the 2007
report.
Published August 2008
