Tauranga Chamber of Commerce have revealed that business confidence is high within the city and things are looking bright leading up to Christmas.

Figures show business confidence rose in the final quarter of 2014, following three months of election uncertainty.

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Dave Burnett. Photo: File.

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Dave Burnett says confidence overall was down on the highs of the early part of the year, with a net 42 per cent of businesses optimistic that conditions would improve.

'The confidence is definitely there,” says Dave.

'I think we have put some really good building blocks in this year for that business confidence to really start to increase into next year.”

He makes mention of a number of major projects currently on the go in the city, including the Tauranga Eastern Link, which is nearing completion, the tertiary education partnership and the Port of Tauranga dredging the harbour next year.

'It all bodes well in terms for what's going to happen next year for the city,” he adds.

'I definitely see the building blocks of some of those major projects being put in. Not only will we benefit from this next year but in years to come.”

Dave says it is pleasing to see business confidence begin to grow after a tough patch a few years ago in terms of the global financial crisis and Psa hitting the region's kiwifruit sector hard.

Psa was first detected in New Zealand in Te Puke in November 2010. In the early stages of the disease outbreak, Government contributed $25 million, matched dollar for dollar by industry, for the management of Psa.

The rocketing house prices in Auckland is also mentioned with the number of residents making the move out of the city, with Tauranga one of the prime destinations.

Dave says: 'People are coming out of Auckland for a variety of reasons but we will naturally gain from that too. That's exciting for us.”

A concern for business was that more than 30 per cent of those seeking to employ skilled people were having difficulty finding suitable employees.