Call for targeted foreign residential property buying to start again

Century 21 owner Tim Kearins says with investors stepping back, interest from first home buyers slowing and property values sliding, it is perhaps time to widen the net.

The coalition Government banned many foreigners from buying existing New Zealand properties in August 2018, although it doesn’t apply to Australians and Singaporeans because of free trade deals with those countries. However, non-resident foreigners are still able to make limited investments in new apartments in large developments.

The ban considerably reduced the number of home purchases by foreigners, which dropped from 1,038 in the December quarter of 2017 to 174 in the December quarter of this year, a decline of 83%, Statistics NZ data show.

Last year, 630 NZ dwellings were bought by foreign owners and 1,482 were sold. That compares to 3,369 homes bought in 2017 and 1,770 sales in the same year.