OPINION: According to legend, a leading property investor was asked in the early 1990s why he preferred investing in Wellington, over Auckland.



"Because Labour will be back in charge, eventually."



When the Left controls the Beehive, so the theory goes, the state swells, meaning more jobs for bureaucrats, and more offices to house them.



The sentiment has been cynically shared by some in the capital's business circles, sometimes longingly, such as during the former National Government's long running promise (which was either a fiction or a failure) to cut "core" public servant numbers.

READ MORE: Business confidence drops, with fewer expecting to hire or invest

So it is especially curious that, according to the quarterly survey of business opinion (QSBO), now that Labour is back, confidence among Wellington businesses has tanked. The capital is now the most pessimistic city in New Zealand, and far more pessimistic than Auckland.

ABIGAIL DOUGHERTY/STUFF Businesses have not welcomed the new Labour-led Government, under Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

To a large extent it seems that business, which doesn't much like change of any type, really doesn't like change to Labour.

Even the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, which has been running the survey since 1961, points to what appears to be an underlying bias in the survey in the year after the Government changes.

"Previous QSBO surveys have shown business confidence tends to fall after Labour takes office, in contrast to a lift in confidence when National takes office, but the effect on actual activity has been muted."



BNZ's Craig Ebert said the more he looked into the detail of the survey, the more positive it was, with one of the major challenges businesses are experiencing was finding good staff.



"While firms are publicly expressing unease about the new government, they are privately getting on with business," Ebert said.



The case should not be overstated. Business leaders want continuity for a good reason. They are often making decisions which will cost large amounts of money now, based on expectations around what will happen long into the future.

STUFF The former National government, under Bill English, had a long-running promise to cut "core" public servant numbers.

As well as revealing a general fall in profit expectations, the QSBO survey showed an alarming plunge in the number of architects expecting to see an increase in work over the coming months, both from public sector and private sector clients.

This may simply stem from heightened uncertainty, but it could equally be an early indicator that the multi-year boom seen in the construction industry is under threat.

Many business leaders are apparently deeply concerned about the new Government's plans to change labour relations, with pledges to set minimum standards at industry levels.

RNZ On the streets of central Auckland, there was a mix of optimism and caution regarding business confidence.

Longer term, if Labour takes on more debt, ultimately, everyone's interest rates could end up being higher.

But as corporate New Zealand slowly returns to work, the message from this long, hot summer filtering back from across the country is that the hotspots were at least as busy as they were last year.

Spending has remained strong. The tourists are still coming. Save the rising threat of war, the global economy is in better health now than it has been for years.

ROSA WOODS/STUFF A Labour government tends to boost state spending, and therefore employment in Wellington, but the capital's businesses are currently more pessimistic than at any time since 2011.

The biggest threat to New Zealand's economy this year appears to be a drought, closely followed by the business community talking itself into a downturn.