A net 27% of households in Southland expect their region’s economy to improve over the coming year, according to the Westpac-McDermott Miller Regional Economic Confidence survey for the June 2019 quarter.

This is down on the net 36% posted for the March 2019 quarter.

Westpac chief economist Dominick Stephens said Southlanders had traditionally been among the most confident in the country and that remained the case.

“That said, activity levels have plateaued recently, with rising house prices effectively being offset by slowing construction and .weaker tourism numbers,” Mr Stephens said.

The regional economy had generally been doing well, although recently things seem to have plateaued. House prices are still rising, but construction and tourism have slowed.

Despite a higher dairy payout forecast, Mr Stephens said confidence among dairy farmers in the region remained low because of concerns about having to comply with environmental regulations and worries about stalling dairy farm prices.

The survey was conducted over the period June 1-10, 2019.