Unemployment looks set to jump – a new survey shows 24% of New Zealand employers are looking to shed permanent staff in the next three months.

The latest Hudson Report, Hiring Expectations, has returned the worst result since the survey began in 1999.

It shows a net negative effect of 11.3% for the April to June quarter, which means that 11.3% more employers are planning to reduce staffing levels during that period rather than increase them.

This represents a substantial drop of 19.2% from the previous Hudson survey.

Harcourts says a slowdown in large rural sales is the reason for a big drop in sale prices for central North Island property in January.

Agency sales figures for the month show that, while most regions are experiencing a downturn in property prices, the central region is the hardest hit.

The average sale price in this region, which mostly covers the Waikato and Bay of Plenty provinces, slumped by 16% compared to January 2008, dropping from an average sale price of $429,000 to $360,000.