Photo / Getty ImagesThe bottom line is that the New Zealand economy was supposed to be better by now. In his OCR preview, Harbour Asset Management head of fixed income Mark Brown sums up the problem: “Rate cuts seem to have had little impact on the economy so far. “The housing market is generally not responding to rate cuts as we have seen it do during previous rate cut cycles (especially in Auckland and Wellington). There has been almost no significant tariff impact on the New Zealand economy yet. So I still retain a good deal of confidence that the economy will improve in the next few months.

Source: New Zealand Herald December 30, 2025 22:35 UTC