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New Zealand homes not for sale to non-resident foreigners under new PM

32 Comments
By Marty MELVILLE

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In a free, capitalist society, anybody should be allowed to buy and sell.

Even those with no money and no property? Sounds like paradise.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Racism.

When did New Zealander become a race?

In a free, capitalist society, anybody should be allowed to buy and sell.

Yes, but unbridled capitalism is a failure. Extremism is never the answer. Restricted capitalism with a social safety net creates more equal opportunity than both absolute capitalism and absolute communism.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

This is a good move, and one that should be copied by the UK. Only those who are legal residents should be allowed to buy property in a country. Otherwise you end up with all the world's crooks buying up everything with the proceeds of their crimes, forcing up costs for everyone else. This is what happens in London, but the British government is too keen on the criminals' cash to do anything.

12 ( +14 / -2 )

Good. Every country should pass this law.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

Burning Bush: In a free, capitalist society, anybody should be allowed to buy and sell. Current home owners just got shafted out of tens of thousands of dollars.

A nice summation of how many see capitalism. No rules - if you've already got the cash or the assets, then you're fine. If not, you miss out. Now, if you're talking about the latest smart phone model or TV, that's fine, but this is about housing. Even a basic understanding of the economics of a country shows that if people cannot afford the basic needs such as housing and medical care, then it creates a much greater burden on the economy as time goes on. Any government that allows non-resident foreigners to buy housing while local residents cannot afford to put a roof over their heads, then that's majorly messed up. People who do not support policies like this NZ one care more about making ideological stands than they do about national economics or a functioning society. For me, it's this attitude, regardless of whether it's given from the left or right, that shows what is wrong with the world at the moment.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

This is an interesting move. I wonder if my country Canada will follow suit. Housing prices in Vancouver and Toronto are out of this world, and a lot of it is because of buyers from outside the country buying up houses either as investments or a way to circumvent the immigration process.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Great move! The same desperately needs to be implemented in Sydney

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Japan needs to enact a similar law, as Chinese investors are buying up water and forestry resource land.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Great move! The same desperately needs to be implemented in Sydney

Hear, hear!

Reckon this doesn't even go far enough as we are only talking about 'existing homes' meaning cashed-up overseas developers (mostly chinese, hk and Taiwanese when it comes to oz and possibly nz) will still be able to invest millions of dollars in new projects, buy land, farms etc.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

In a free, capitalist society, anybody should be allowed to buy and sell.

In a truly free society people should be free to organise themselves into democracies and agree on laws they wish to live by, exactly like they've done in NZ.

The anarchist/radical libertarian idea of freedom is not real freedom Burning Bush. It's simply an alternative list of things that people should never be allowed to do in order to preserve your interpretation of freedom. Just think about it. You are saying we can't do a), b), c) or d) if we want a truly free society. You are just as prescriptive as the people you are criticising.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

M3M3M3

Just think about it. You are saying we can't do a), b), c) or d) if we want a truly free society. You are just as prescriptive as the people you are criticising.

I want to give you all the likes!

6 ( +6 / -0 )

So non-resident buyers are essentially being mandated to invest in New Zealand homes through domestically domicled investment vehicles instead.

Or will they ban foreign investment in New Zealand domiciled assets too? (I guess they probably want to, if they expect their policy to have the expected impact.)

New Zealand was "no longer for sale".

That's going to make New Zealand a lot cheaper then.

If you are a non-resident, what you need to do is wait for the New Zealand currency to cheapen over the coming months/years as a result of these policies (their central bank change too looks currency negative on the surface to me), then buy up lots of the local currency when it begins to appear that the government will change again. The currency will strengthen again as the government changes and ends these policies, and non-residents will have made a killing, all at the expense of the locals, thanks to this.

Unless of course future governments maintain this Trump-style protectionism (even the minor coalition party is called "NZ First"), in which case New Zealand will be cheap, permanently.

Ardern, who campaigned on social issues including housing affordability and improved healthcare, has described capitalism as a "blatant failure" when it came to putting a roof over the heads of the poor.

Capitalism is not intended to do this-or-that for the poor. That is what your publicly funded safety net is supposed to be for.

Capitalism is how you grow your economic pie - people going about their lives freely and making transactions with other individuals, in a mutually beneficial manner. This generates wealth.

Your safety net redistributes some of that wealth amassed to ensure that the needy amongst you are provided for adequately.

They should feel free to tinker with and improve their safety net, but leave messing capitalism alone, lest they destroy the wealth growth which they rely upon in order to care for their poor.

Seeing this makes me feel sorry for the poor of New Zealand.

"You'll see a reduction in inequalities," she said.

Not between residents of New Zealand and foreigners, I suspect.

In a free, capitalist society, anybody should be allowed to buy and sell.

Yes. New Zealand is now saying under this new government that they aren't a free, capitalist society anymore - at least until the next election.

Any government that allows non-resident foreigners to buy housing while local residents cannot afford to put a roof over their heads, then that's majorly messed up. 

Was it that bad in New Zealand though? I have not read of social unrest because foreigners bought homes in New Zealand. Indeed I heard that the Labour party only clinched power after changing their leader to a young fresh face, weeks before the election. It strikes me that the public were just ripe to elect a change of government, rather than any serious problems. 

Reading so many good things about New Zealand in recent years had me putting it on my list of places to consider emigrating to should things in Japan turn much more sour, but it's gone down a few rungs for me, reading about this new policy direction. (Not something that another election couldn't largely fix of course.) 

That's seemingly the impact that these New Zealand politicians were hoping for though.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

That's a very good law and should be implemented everywhere. This is one of the reasons places like Dubai and Vancouver have ridiculously highly priced real estate. Rich people overseas buy property as an investment to sell it later to make a profit, and as long as they are willing to do that, they create a property bubble where residents, (students, workers, immigrants, natives, whatever) can't find affordable housing. They should also implement another law that says if you don't rent out the apartments and just leave them there empty, you have to pay a higher tax.  I believe Vancouver passed a law like that recently for similar reasons.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

This is a good idea. I think the key here is "non-resident". Looking at this as a Permanent Resident, non-citizen of Japan I think I should be able to buy property here. However I would rather not have some speculator with no vested interest in Japan drive the prices up making it harder for Japanese (and me) to buy property.

It makes sense.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

I am surprised countries let non-resident foreigners buy properties in the first place. 

So, if you own property, and someone wants to buy it off you for 5% more than what you were offered a month ago, you think the government should be standing in the way of a foreigner giving you extra money for your own property?

If you were a New Zealand property owner, not only has your currency sunk over the past month (presumably in large part to the election result), but now you won't be able to sell your property to the highest bidder either. After selling your property (if you find a buyer at all), you will be left with less money than would otherwise be the case.

Scale that up nation-wide. That's a lot of money that is no longer in your economy.

Good luck, New Zealanders.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

So following everyone's logic above, no-one in the world is allowed to move backwards and forwards between a property in two countries? Taken to the next step, no-one would be allowed to own two properties in the same country, if it was taking away available housing for those not yet on the ladder.

Surely this movement to get one family fixed into one house, and then to charge 40% of its value in death duties, forcing its sale and everyone out onto the streets again, is all in aid of efficient taxation?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

nandakandamanda,

I think they are just saying that they'll make it harder for non-residents to buy in the first place, not that they will explicitly ban people from moving between countries.

So if you are a New Zealander living overseas and want to go back to live, sorry but you can't buy a property until you have again obtained residency, by some kind of criteria. (Unless they put in a loophole for citizens, but loopholes are a slippery slope.) 

Same goes for non-citizens looking to move to New Zealand. At least this is compatible with the anti-immigration stance I guess. Stay away from New Zealand is the message, loud and clear.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

So if you are a New Zealander living overseas and want to go back to live, sorry but you can't buy a property until you have again obtained residency, by some kind of criteria. (Unless they put in a loophole for citizens, but loopholes are a slippery slope.)

If you are a New Zealander living overseas and want to go back to live, you're still a New Zealand citizen.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

So if you are a New Zealander living overseas and want to go back to live, sorry but you can't buy a property until you have again obtained residency, by some kind of criteria. (Unless they put in a loophole for citizens, but loopholes are a slippery slope.) 

Easy. Go spend a couple of weeks with family. Have as much official mail as possible sent to that address and where possible change the address on documentation. Boom. Done. That said... declining citizens the right to purchase property is a far slipperier slope and in many cases non-resident citizens are still considered resident for tax purposes. Having a library card with a NZ address listed in your membership details is enough for you to still be considered resident for tax purposes.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

FizzBit,

"she said, specifying that the new rules only applied to non-residents."

Just reading this, it sounds like she is talking non-residents, but maybe they are planning to put in a loophole to allow non-resident New Zealand citizens to still be able to buy New Zealand assets (well, property only for starters, but is that the end of it?).

But imagine if you are trying to sell your house - to whom do you have to prove that your buyer is infact a resident (or maybe simply just a citizen) of New Zealand? Sounds like a new layer of bureaucracy and paperwork that people will have to go through in order to be part of a mutually agreed sale.

Far easier if you can just sell to the top bidder, and then spend all the extra money received in the New Zealand economy, to the benefit of all who live there, if you ask me.

Haaa Nemui,

Have as much official mail as possible sent to that address and where possible change the address on documentation. Boom. Done.

Depends on what checks they put in place though, doesn't it? If it were Japan you'd have to have proper documents, rather than just people sending stuff to your name at a certain address.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Depends on what checks they put in place though, doesn't it? If it were Japan you'd have to have proper documents, rather than just people sending stuff to your name at a certain address.

It's really not that difficult. It isn't Japan and doesn't have all of the bureaucratic rigmarole for most things that Japan has.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

For foreigners it may be a little different though.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Good idea, I wish they would do this in London. Whole blocks are empty due to foreign buyers purchasing the properties as an investment, at a time when London has an appalling shortage of housing.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Smart. Absentee landlords and property owners are a problem worldwide.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Great move! The same desperately needs to be implemented in Sydney

Copied and paste from another website:

Can a non-resident buy a house in Australia?

Yes, but conditions do apply. In order to purchase residential real estate in Australia – whether you want to live in it or use it as an investment property – non-residents need to apply to the Foreign Investment Review Board(FIRB) for permission.

As a part of the federal government, the FIRB is responsible for ensuring most foreign investment in Australia is directed towards new dwellings, which create new jobs and result in economic growth, as well as preserving the current stock of housing in Australia for purchase by local residents.

All foreign citizens need to apply for approval before taking an interest in any residential real estate; the only exceptions are New Zealand citizens, Australian permanent residents, and their spouses.

If you’re looking to purchase a new dwelling or vacant land, the news is good – most of these applications are approved, due to the fact that they encourage new housing development. The only condition is that construction on land must be completed within 4 years from the date of purchase.

If you’re looking to buy an established dwelling (i.e. an existing house), then unfortunately the news isn’t so good. Non-resident foreign citizens are generally prohibited from buying existing properties in Australia, the reasoning being that it deprives Australian buyers of a property they could buy and live in.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

yoshisan88, that’s interesting styff, because it suggests that a similar policy is already in Australia, and it doesn’t seem to be working, judging by what others are saying about prices in Sydney...

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Too bad this could never happen in the United States. The tweeter in chief owns far too much real estate to not allow them to be sold to foreign buyers.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Good. Every country should pass this law.

I agree 110%!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Human beings are earthlings -- the earth is our habitat. There is no longer any need for countries.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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