Indicators

The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Agency has been putting out a nice compilation of Canterbury-related stats for a few months.

In the October 2012 quarterly report, we find that growth in weekly rental prices in Christchurch has outpaced that in the rest of the country; rents here began from rather below the national average and are now above it. I wonder what would happen were some of those rental prices to be quality adjusted; I'd also love to see data on how easy it is for would-be renters to find accommodation.

We also see that there are far more skilled vacancies here than elsewhere; more recent figures I believe have Canterbury's unemployment rate below that in the rest of the country. I wonder to what extent lack of rental availability prevents inbound migration by those who could work on the rebuild.

I've been appointed to the external review panel for CERA's economic indicators. Academics wishing that other data were available, or presented differently, please drop me a note; I can compile useful suggestions for the next meeting.