Business

Generally areas with the lowest house prices have the smallest jump from average rent to mortgage payments. Photo: Unsplash / Blake Wheeler It's a common complaint from first-home buyers: If I can pay $750 a week in rent - and have been doing it every week for years - why is that not enough to prove to the bank that I can afford a mortgage at that repayment level? Unfortunately, it's not that simple. A repayment of $750 a week would service a $540,000 loan with a 6 percent interest rate. A household with two borrowers and two children under 18 would need an income of about $115,000 a year to qualify for that, depending on their expenses. Read more: Data shows that it is generally the areas with the lowest house prices that have the smallest jump from average rent to mortgage payments. ...

Photo: Getty Images Synlait Milk to retain North Island plants Sees a path to profitability for the money losing plants Sale was a possible solution to Synlait's financial woes and debt burden Future of company rests of 18 Sept meeting to approve $218m injection Beleaguered dairy company Synlait Milk has decided against selling its North Island processing facilities to restore its finances. The company had been reviewing the future of its processing and manufacturing plant at Pokeno, and a blending and canning facility in Auckland and looking at possible sales to reduce its large debt burden. Chief executive Grant Watson said the review had looked at selling, mothballing the plant, and rebalancing operations at the plant. "The review has been detailed and thorough. It's given us the in...

One of the richest people in the country supports paying more tax, but says the super wealthy worry the government will "squander" the money raised. Bruce Plested, the billionaire co-founder of Mainfreight, said he supported the idea of a wealth tax to help address concerns about inequities in society. "I believe I do," he told RNZ in a new series on wealth launching on Monday. RICH: The meaning of wealth in Aotearoa, produced by Morning Report co-host Corin Dann and investigative reporter Anusha Bradley, canvases a diverse range of the country's rich and powerful about attitudes to wealth; ideas for making us a richer country and what to do with money when you have plenty of it. Plested is among the wealthiest people in the country, according to the 2024 NBR rich list, with an estimated...

New Zealand needs more local research to quantify the true cost of long covid, a briefing paper said. Photo: FANATIC STUDIO / SCIENCE PHOTO L Based on recent Australian research, the economic cost of long covid in New Zealand was likely around 0.5 percent of GDP, or $2b, a year. More local research was needed to quantify the true economic cost. Meanwhile, efforts should be made to prevent infection with better ventilation in schools and workplaces and tweaks to the vaccination programme. Occupational and social support also needed to be strengthened including extended sick leave policies and comprehensive rehabilitation programmes. Researchers estimate long covid is costing the economy $2 billion a year in lost productivity. On Monday, the Public Health Communication Centre published ...

Photo: AFP Inland Revenue is giving hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' details to social media platforms for marketing campaigns, using an anonymisation tool that top international regulators say is inadequate at protecting people's personal information. David Buckingham, a Queenstown employment relations consultant who spotted the practice, said it was a mass "betrayal" of taxpayers. Buckingham said taxpayers had no choice but to give many personal details and their tax status to Inland Revenue, only for the details to end up with Facebook and LinkedIn, bolstering individuals' profiles that the big tech companies grew and traded. Inland Revenue told him that neither he, nor anyone else, could opt out of having their details provided to the firms, he told RNZ. In a statement, Inland Rev...

Photo: chatchaiyo/123RF A 916.67 percent investment gain in one year might be difficult to get your head around - but it is the best annual share performance of any company listed on the NZX in the last 10 years. The New Zealand stock exchange has provided data showing the most significant on-year movements over the past decade. The data assumes net dividends are reinvested and adjusts for capital events. Pacific Edge's share price increased 916.67 percent in 2020. It started the year at 12c and ended it at $1.22. It has since fallen away again, to 10c. "It's important to look at everything in context," Devon Funds head of retail Greg Smith said. "While it had a big run in that particular year, look at the bigger picture and it's lost 99 percent of its value from the peak. It was a big-s...

Photo: 123rf Helen, whom RNZ has agreed not to identify, is facing retirement with just $1000 in savings. She and her former partner have separated and he is living in their family home. She has to rely on the New Zealand Superannuation to get by. "Much of my life was spent caring for others without pay," she said. Over the years, she looked after their autistic daughter and her elderly parents, as well as her in-laws. Her partner worked full-time, in what she describes as a "very traditional" household economic arrangement. "All of this support and care was without any financial compensation. I think that women in my situation should be compensated for loss of income through caring for babies, children, and elderly parents. Women who have disabled children need an additional top-up beca...

State Highway 2 median barrier protesters in July. Photo: Blake Judson Median barriers on State Highway 2 near Katikati are "severely limiting" access and hurting horticultural and agricultural businesses, farmers say. The flexible wire rope barrier was installed on SH2, south of Katikati, in July as part of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) safety improvements. Sections of the new median barrier can be found between Katikati and Ōmokoroa. The barrier has drawn criticism and protests because it limits cars and trucks from turning into side streets. Rick Burke, who has farmed on Lund Rd for 40 years, said the barriers would have an economic impact. "With vehicles having to unnecessarily travel a considerable distance further to get back to their roads, the vehicle running cost an...

Photo: 123rf The Commerce Commission has given telecommunications companies 12 months to come up with standardised coverage maps for all providers so customers can compare the signal reach each one is offering. It also wants universal definitions of coverage quality, like excellent, good and non-existent, as well as hang up clauses; so if consumers find their calling experience in real world is not what is promised they cancel their contract at no charge. Judy, who lives on a farm near Lake Waikaremoana in the Wairoa District, told Checkpoint she only had about 30 percent phone coverage. "It's a health and safety issue. We've got employees and contractors on the farm on a regular basis," she said. She had supplied her employees with locator beacons, which were only suitable for emergency...

A man uses a smartphone to take a photo of a beach. Photo: 123RF Youth travel businesses are hopeful to recover some of their losses this summer after one of their worst winters ever. One hostel industry advocate said occupancy levels collapsed across the motu in May and it has been a hard slog since then. But operators said green shoots were appearing for the summer ahead. Intrepid Travel New Zealand general manager Eve Lawrence said it was a cracker start to the year and then it went downhill. "Winter has been exceptionally soft. It's been probably the worst winter we've had on record for the last decade to be honest. The snow just hasn't arrived and the customers just haven't been booking for the winter so it's had quite a downturn this year," she said. Summer was looking quite str...