Commmercial property investor confidence markers in Queenstown and Dunedin are poles apart.
While the tourism hotspot heads up the Colliers International survey for the quarter to December with 62% investor confidence, Dunedin's investor confidence is -1%; with both places unchanged from a year ago.
Colliers' associate director of national research, Chris Dibble , said national confidence had bounced back from the third-quarter low of 17% to 26%, following concerns over the possibility of a low dairy payout and China's sharemarket volatility at the time.
‘‘Optimists outnumbered pessimists by a margin of 26% compared to a margin of 17% in September,'' he said.
The survey, compiled from 3885 responses, considers expectations of investors for the year ahead, including rents, yields and vacancy rates.
Queenstown topped the 11 centres across the country with 62%, followed by Auckland and Tauranga/Mt Maunganui, both on 55%, and Hamilton on 28%.
While Dunedin was -1% confidence, Palmerston North sunk from the previous quarter to -14% while Whangarei repeated -24%.
In an interview, Mr Dibble said Queenstown, driven by tourism and the extra people attracted there, reflected the increase in confidence across the country.
He described Dunedin's rating as arising from it being a ‘‘localised market'' and its lack of drive to attract outside investors.
Of the industrial sub-sector, Mr Dibble said investors were most confident in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, with investment yields forecast to firm up more in that sector during 2016, despite having passed the cyclical peak, he said.
Colliers' director of industrial sales and leasing in Christchurch, Sam Staite, said vast tracts of industrial land had been sold during the past five years in Canterbury and were filling up, with a high number of warehouses under construction or nearing completion.
‘‘After large rental increases in recent times, we anticipate occupancy costs to reduce through 2016 as landlords compete strongly for the tenants in the market,'' he said.
