Home truths on NZ living

Fingers crossed Fisheress. You also sound as if you've hit the jackpot over there. You seem to exude contentment!

We have three people vying for our house at the moment so one of them should come through. Although, even if it sells now we can't come until lauren has finished her GCSE's next year so we'll be looking for a rental for a few months. We're not gonna let that bother us though, not when we've had the house on the market for 2 years!!

Really glad that everything is turning out the way you wanted it, Glenda too is encouragement to us all!!

Keep posting guys, you make it real [smiley=icon_biggrin.gif]

Some good news for a change.

Food fight pays off for shoppers
Sunday July 23, 2006
By Maria Slade

The Warehouse's entry into supermarket wars is driving prices down - but its closest competitors are going one better, according to an official survey.

Consumer magazine has updated its annual survey of supermarket prices following the opening in June of The Warehouse's first full-scale grocery store, at Auckland's new Sylvia Park complex.

The magazine compared the price of buying a basket of 37 leading items at The Warehouse Extra in Sylvia Park with the cost of the same items at nearby Pak'N Save and Countdown outlets. It found Pak'N Save Botany Downs was the cheapest, at $110, followed by Countdown Mt Wellington at $112. The shop cost $118 at The Warehouse.

However, Consumer says The Warehouse Extra has forced prices down in east Auckland. Its wider survey in May shows the basket of goods cost $117 at Pak'N Save Albany, and $131 at Countdown Birkenhead, both on the North Shore.

Rob Chemaly, acting general manager retail operations for Pak'N Save operator Foodstuffs, said the result was not surprising as for 10 years Pak'N Save had been cheapest in the annual Consumer nationwide survey. He conceded The Warehouse had intensified competition.

'We have to be as aggressive as possible. If that means we have to go under cost to maintain a price position, then clearly we will.'

The Warehouse chief executive Ian Morrice said prices were changing almost daily, and a different selection of goods might produce another result. 'There won't be an $8 difference on an ongoing basis.'

Consumer does not reveal its exact shopping list because in the past there had been an incident of a supermarket manipulating prices to come out looking good.

Nationwide, Pak'N Save was the cheapest supermarket in every main centre, followed by Countdown. The most expensive place to buy the basket of goods was Woolworths Kilbirnie, in Wellington.

Inflation slows but experts split on interest rate rise
Saturday October 21, 2006
By Tracy Withers

New Zealand's annual inflation rate probably slowed in the September quarter from a five-year high as petrol prices fell, but the result may not be enough to prevent the central bank raising interest rates again next week.

Consumer prices probably rose 3.6 per cent from a year earlier, slowing from 4 per cent in the previous three months, according to the median forecast of 13 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

The inflation figures are due to be released on Wednesday, the day before Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard is to decide on interest rates.

Bollard, who must keep annual price increases between 1 and 3 per cent, said last month that he was "less confident" the benchmark interest rate would not need to rise from a record high because inflation was not abating fast enough.

The dollar has surged in the past three months as investors increased bets of a rate increase next week.

"Inflation is undeniably headed down. The key question is how fast," said Daniel Wills, economist at ASB Bank. "The inflation outlook may not be as benign as the headline suggests."

Wills expects Bollard will raise the official cash rate a quarter-point to 7.5 per cent. Seven of 15 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News forecast a rate increase. Eight predicted no change.

The dollar rose 6.3 per cent in the past three months, the best-performing major currency against the US dollar, amid reports showing a record-low jobless rate and a buoyant housing market, which may fan spending and inflation.

House sales hit a four-month high in September. The jobless rate was 3.6 per cent in the March quarter.

- BLOOMBERG