This paper presents asymptotic results for the seasonal unit root test proposed by Hylleberg, Engle, Granger and Yoo (1990, Journal of Econometrics 44, 215–238) in a near integration context. The findings are important in that they provide the asymptotic power functions of the Hylleberg et al. statistics when the characteristic roots of a seasonal process are local to unity. These conclusions extend the available asymptotic results for this test and serve as a framework for the potential development of more powerful test procedures.