Economists revise OCR outlook

Westpac's Dominick Stephens no longer expects an OCR cut in February or at any point in the first half of 2020, amid positive signs from the economy and housing market. 

"The New Zealand economy and housing market have lived up to our more constructive forecasts and then some," Stephens said.

The bank expects conditions to deteriorate through 2020, forcing the RBNZ to cut the OCR to 0.75% in August. 

"Our OCR forecast strikes a balance within a spectrum of possibilities. We could easily envisage the OCR remaining at 1% all year or falling to 0.5%, depending on the data," the Westpac economist said.