More people working from home, less being spent in Auckland - report

How Kiwis work, shop and spend may have changed forever as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

While there are signs that the economy is recovering, a new report shows the number of people working from home is up, while spending in New Zealand's biggest city has stayed down.

In the Auckland CBD tourists outnumber locals for the first time in years, yet spending remains 9.5% below pre-pandemic levels - in contrast, the rest of the country is nearly back to where it was at 3% down.

NZIER senior economist Daniel Hamill says the largest impacts on New Zealand's economy have included increases in people working from home, "changing where we work, moving people away from CBDs and potentially into the suburbs".

"Covid-19 acted as an accelerant, and it showed us what was possible from a working and a spending perspective. If you are further away from stores, it may shift us towards online spending, and people are still nervous around Covid-19 as it is still out there in the community."

Since the start of the pandemic, the initial 17.5% of the workforce is based at home, at least part-time, has jumped to 23%.

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