Data confirms foreign buyer ban shouldn’t go ahead

Stats NZ property transfer data confirms foreign buyer ban shouldn’t go ahead says REINZ

If you’re writing on the Statistics New Zealand data about property transfers, please consider the following comment from Bindi Norwell, Chief Executive at the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ):

“The figures released today by Statistics NZ show that for the March quarter only 3.3% of all of New Zealand’s property transfers were to people who didn’t hold New Zealand citizenships or resident visas.

“These figures are very close to the numbers that REINZ released at the back-end of 2017 which indicated that only 3.8% of sales were to offshore buyers. In our view, the figures from Statistics NZ confirm that it’s not worth going ahead with a blanket ban on foreign buyers across New Zealand.

“The only areas in New Zealand where there is a significant proportion of sales to made to people who didn’t hold New Zealand citizenships or resident visas are Auckland and Queenstown Lakes with 7.3% and 9.7% of sales respectively.

Looking more closely at the Auckland market, Stats NZ highlighted that 19% of sales in the Waitemata Board in the March quarter were to offshore buyers. This is roughly 85 sales, and even if these 85 properties were sold to local buyers or investors it is still unlikely to significantly impact the overall market.

“As we outlined in our submission to the Select Committee, if foreign buyers are banned from purchasing property in New Zealand, it could significantly impact development funding which would therefore impact supply and potentially see prices increasing – the exact opposite effect the ban is seeking to have,” concludes Norwell.

ENDS

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