2021's top stories

Personal Finance / analysis

We look back on our interesting trek through 2021, reveal our most popular articles, and assess how readers engaged with our broad content

23rd Dec 21, 9:45am by David Chaston

Image sourced from Shutterstock.com

The 'new normal' is emerging and it is one which will challenge us for a long time to come.

Understanding our economic life under this 'new normal' is a challenge, one that we are doing in conjunction with our readers.

It is clearly early days and there are many sectors of our economy pining for a return to the 'old normal'. There are others who want to see the end of that 'old normal'. And there are others who are looking forward to a utopian 'new normal'. But the actual 'new normal' that emerges may disappoint as much as the 'old normal' did.

But exploring what is going on is what we do.

Of course, we are only looking at things through the lens of economic activity. And that is always going to be just a part of life.

But this what we do, an open channel for this slice of life. We are glad you have been with us in 2021 and hope you will join us again in 2022.

In 2021 we published 2,931 articles, almost all of them original work. Plus we published countless updates to our deep resource pages, tables, calculators and charts.

The pandemic waves roll on, and we have been lucky to argue about economic policy from a country spared the worst of its grip. We should be grateful for that.

The sharp rise in readership that built in 2020 has stayed with us in 2021. Many many new readers joined us. To all of you, I say thank you for staying with us.

And to our supporters, our deepest gratitude to you - for without you, we would not be able to sustain our journalistic independence and focus. Your support not only enables our news reporting but also supports the research, data collection and technical expertise to keep the many plates spinning here at interest HQ!

At the start of 2020, the average two year mortgage rate was 3.55% and the one year term deposit rate was 2.60%

That fell to 2.66% by the end of 2020 for mortgages from the main banks and fell even further to 2.57 by the middle of the year. After that, it turned higher to end at 4.35% by the end of 2021, a level we haven't seen since 2018. There was a turn higher for term deposit rates too, although not to the same extent. The point is, we are in a newish economic context of higher interest rates which are bound to go higher as inflation returns and stays high.

We have ended the year in reasonable economic shape and probably better than many (including me) thought during the lock downs of the past two years.

It has been our wider coverage of the economic changes that have attracted new readers and kept current readers engaged.

New Zealand is not a large country. We have just 3,969,000 adults 18 years and older. And yet in 2021 more than 3 mln of them used our news reporting or data resources at least once during the year (unique IP visits were 3.4 mln).

Readers actually dialed up 25.6 mln pages of content, almost the same as in 2020 which was a level we thought would be a record that would stand for a long time. By any measure, that is a lot of content to deliver

We aim to be an intelligent read for people who want to understand what is going on in our economy, and the outside forces that also shape it. Although we are still a desktop read to take full advantage of the tables, charts and other embedded resources we offer readers, readership on mobile rose to almost 60%. What is remarkable about the use of our service on mobile is that engagement time of the small screen is high - in fact, it is slightly higher than for desktop, showing that intelligent analysis does have a place on a smartphone.

We appreciate your support of our live-and-free service, and we wish everyone Happy Holidays and good weather where ever you are. If you value what you get for "free", we would appreciate your support via our Press Patron facility at the top of this page. (Obviously what we do costs heaps, and advertising is a fickle revenue stream. Your support is valuable beyond what you may realise.)

Although most of our staff are taking a break as well, we will have daily updates and some unique content in our regular style.

International financial markets may get 'interesting' in January and we will be covering that and what it means for New Zealand.

In the meantime, here are the ten articles that readers read the most in 2021:

10. David Hargreaves April report of how ANZ thinks sharp interest rate rises may see property investors selling up
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/110050/anz-economists-say-after-rec…

9. David Hargreaves December report on why BNZ says the future very much depends on how sentiment responds to endemic Covid
https://www.interest.co.nz/business/113104/bnz-economists-say-single-bi…

8. Greg Ninness's March assessment that investors are likely to pull back using very high leverage for their purchases
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/109754/new-tax-rules-residential-in…

7. David Hargreaves' August reporting that the Reserve Bank now believes house prices are likely to fall right through to 2024
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/111825/reserve-bank-now-believes-ho…

6. David Chaston's report of sharp interest rate rises for home loans and term deposits by ANZ, following wholesale rate jumps
https://www.interest.co.nz/personal-finance/112847/following-sharp-whol…

5. Greg Ninness's April report of a waterfront apartment that went to auction with a $500 reserve, selling for $5000
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/110082/opening-bid-waterfront-apart…

4. David Chaston's November opinion that the regulatory squeeze might give the best chance in two generations for house prices to fall
https://www.interest.co.nz/personal-finance/113018/attacking-housing-su…

3. David Hargreaves April review of Westpac's note that landlords might be better off selling their property, after the new housing policy changes
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/109889/westpac-economists-say-landl…

2. Jenee Tibshraeny's reporting of the March changes to the bright-line test, interest deductibility and other housing policy changes
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/109638/government-releases-housing-…

and the most read article of 2021 was

1. David Hargreaves October review of the ANZ report that says the likely average cost of borrowing over the next few years poses a challenge to asset valuations that underpin household wealth
https://www.interest.co.nz/business/112826/reassessment-likely-average-…

Our resource pages continue to far outstrip our news article readership and these resources continue to grow impressively. Of note in 2021 is the growth of our auction monitoring database. This now rivals our huge mortgage rate database activity. Many of our regular resources like our dairy industry payout history page, auction results, bonds data, and calculator pages, as examples, all were far more popular than almost any news article. Your ability to dig into the data behind the news is what makes us special.

And finally, much of our service would not have been possible without the active support of the many readers who do so via the PressPatron platform. To you an extra special thanks again for all your support in 2021. Ad revenues remain particularly fickle and will always be a problem for us, so your direct support has enabled us to invest in the service in 2021 in significant ways. What you see and use is significantly enabled by your active support.

We are looking forward to next year.

Enjoy your holiday break. See you again in 2022.

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21 Comments

by murray86 | 23rd Dec 21, 9:54am 1640206465

It's certainly been an interesting year, and I think most of us thought the pandemic would have been a waning figment by now. And yes this is the most interesting of all the sites I monitor, especially the comment streams. I find I learn so much from many in those discussions, even the discordant ones. Having people who are able to rationalise why they hold the opinion they do is hugely valuable to good debate. But as we all know, or learn predicting the future is a somewhat precarious pastime.

I'm looking forward to what the new year brings, but there are elements of trepidation as political events from the far reaches of the planet threaten to drive what ever else happens.

by chebbo | 23rd Dec 21, 9:56am 1640206611

Feel free to remove if this isn't appropriate, but I say this is someone with absolutely zero affiliation with interest.co.nz (other than being a paid subscriber) - if you can, but don't already, please consider subscribing or making a small regular contribution to the site. I'm a big believer in the value of crowd-sourced funding, especially of news media, since it helps keep things independent, and independent media sources are becoming hard to find.

Thanks David and team for your efforts this year, your work is extremely important (and likely to become more so!). Looking forward to 2022.

by blobbles | 23rd Dec 21, 9:59am 1640206766

"New Zealand is not a large country. We have just 3,969,000 adults 18 years and older. And yet in 2021 more than 3 mln of them used our news reporting or data resources at least once during the year (unique IP visits were 3.4 mln)."

I assume that you are not simply counting IP addresses, pretty much all our ISPs use dynamic IP address assignment for their customers, so IP address uniqueness does not tell you anything. Cookies will however.

by RickStrauss | 23rd Dec 21, 4:32pm 1640230376

And if you're not subscribing at least click on the ads to help.

by Brock Landers | 26th Dec 21, 7:30am 1640457036

False clicks will get the ad account suspended.

by morepork | 23rd Dec 21, 10:33am 1640208785

Only 1/10 is not about housing (#9). Sounds about right for the NZ economy

by tomjones_04 | 23rd Dec 21, 11:00am 1640210441

I’m currently holidaying in Gisborne and the topic of conversation is never far from housing either.

It’s more around the plight of locals and homelessness etc. I’d use the word ‘desperate’ to be honest. I grew up in the UK and property ownership occupied so little air time at the pub etc. It’s a very solvable issue (NZ housing), but it requires a reset. The way the political system is set up, no government want that reset on their watch. It occupies so much conversation time because it’s such a big issue. I can’t wait until the day it’s not the most talked about thing at BBQ’s etc…. It makes me nauseous when folk go on about how much money they’ve made from properties over the years etc.

by JimboJones | 23rd Dec 21, 11:43am 1640213006

I'm surprised housing wasn't a topic in the UK as there has been plenty of "money to be made" there too due to restrictive planning laws etc. There are lots of property shows on TV over there, and a lot of East London has been gentrified leaving nowhere even remotely affordable in London. Maybe it has changed since you left.

by tomjones_04 | 23rd Dec 21, 2:34pm 1640223269

In the early 2000’s I remember a load of TV shows where people renovated houses. They’d buy a do a upper and spend some poundage on it. They’d flick it on for a small profit and go again.

No one saw this as an issue as they were improving the stock and working fairly hard at it.

I also remember my first boss loaning one of the guys his first house deposit. (Was about 5k from memory, about a 5th of a years wages). Beneficial both ways as he got to retain a good worker and the guy bought a small 2 beddy for him and his Miss’s and baby. I often talk about how things were back home but I get told I don’t know what I’m on about with regards to the property market.

All I know is that it felt like there were more options open to young people in terms of cheap homes AND expensive homes. I think the investment thing out here has removed any chance of a cheap home… in my opinion, it’s what’s missing.

by Erewhon | 23rd Dec 21, 4:17pm 1640229438

Housing affordability relative to income is better in the UK, but people get paid less (although the pound is strong relatively eg minimum wage is £8.91) but cost of living is way lower because of market access (you can buy strawberries all year round), but the standard of housing is generally very average. Watch any of those UK property shows now, it’s depressing!

I know people will say (my English wife for example) that UK houses are well insulated, double glazed and have gas central heating, which is all true, they have to be because of the weather, but they are tiny, mostly semi detached, and have very small outdoor spaces.

Prices also vary massively from anywhere you’d want to live to places that you really wouldn’t. Same as NZ really.

And if you’re in London, and own your own property vs council estates or renting, you’ll be talking about property prices.

by JimboJones | 26th Dec 21, 9:38am 1640464737

They do have a better range over there. First home buyers can still get on the market with a basement flat or similar even in London. Here the only equivalent is a dodgy leaky apartment in the city with crazy ground rent.

by Kate | 23rd Dec 21, 10:54am 1640210057

Proud to be a supporter - it's worth every penny as I use the data resources all the time. I agree that that is what makes this site so useful and unique - and the comment threads add the 'pulse' of the community - which I find equally as important and useful.

Happy holidays to everyone at interest.co.nz - you are an amazingly talented, professional team.

by xingmowang | 23rd Dec 21, 1:32pm 1640219559

happy holiday.

by linklater01 | 23rd Dec 21, 1:51pm 1640220686

I would echo the comments of murray86 and chebbo. Few days pass without me spending some time on this site. Inevitably, but in my view sadly, much( too much?) space is devoted to the property market.

Of course, I am very well aware that I have been an apparent beneficiary of rampant property inflation, but while my home in Mt. Maunganui has appreciated greatly in price, should I wish to downsize in this area, then I would of course pay a similarly inflated price for something else. A 2 bed, 2 bathroom new apartment would be at least $1m.

by Yvil | 23rd Dec 21, 1:58pm 1640221126

Thanks to the whole team at Interest for constantly producing articles of high calibre. Have a great X-mas break, you've deserved it and see you in 2022.

To the readers, May I personally suggest you support Interest for only $10/month, that's 30cts a day and well worth it.

by jo147 | 23rd Dec 21, 10:35pm 1640252116

Done. Been meaning to for months. Finally worked through the login process and did it. Thanks David and team. Have a well earned break and see you safe and refreshed in the new year!

by Graham Adams | 26th Dec 21, 10:38pm 1640511494

David, can you tell us how many reads your top three articles, say, had each? You've done that in previous years. (I remember one year your best-read story had 15,000 reads, which was creditable.)

As a general observation, it is common for books sites, for instance, to give their top 10 books for the month but never say how many bought them.

When I did a story on the NZ novel for North & South several years ago, it was obvious why numbers are never given. They were dreadfully low.

Numbers of reads for your top stories would give us a gauge on what a big-hitting story weighs in at on your site.

All the best for the new year.

by Jenée Tibshraeny | 28th Dec 21, 4:36pm 1640662615

The top story was clicked on 53,403 times, the second one 49,205 times and the third one 44,813 times. The tenth most read story was clicked on 33,684 times.

by Graham Adams | 28th Dec 21, 6:41pm 1640670106

Those are great numbers! Thanks for the info.

by Jamin | 27th Dec 21, 11:24am 1640557441

Great year. Love the educated debate in the comment threads.

Next years aim: to use the word ponzi at least three time in every post.

As I’ve learnt from certain commentators, there is really no limit or context restraints to this words usage.

merry Christmas …, ponzi !

by SailorRob | 27th Dec 21, 4:23pm 1640575404

Congratulations. New Zealands only completely politically unbiased media.