New Zealand's government will once again open the door to the luxury real estate market for wealthy foreign investors.
According to Bloomberg on the 6th (local time), starting that day New Zealand eased restrictions to allow foreigners holding the so-called "golden visa" to purchase or build dwellings priced at a minimum of 5 million New Zealand dollars (about 4.35235 billion won). The move began when the government in April relaunched the Active Investor Plus (AIP) visa to attract wealthy immigrants and capital to revive the sluggish national economy. AIP is permanent residency granted to foreigners who contribute to the economy by investing between 5 million and 15 million New Zealand dollars in New Zealand corporations. According to Immigration New Zealand, a total of 1,891 people had applied for the AIP visa as of the end of February. Bloomberg said, "The potential investment size alone amounts to at least 3.5 billion New Zealand dollars," adding, "Thirty-seven percent of applicants are Americans."
This partially relaxes the Foreign Home Buyers Ban introduced in 2018 to rein in skyrocketing house prices. At the time, the Jacinda Ardern government said foreign speculation was the main culprit behind New Zealand's surging home prices and passed a law banning foreign purchases of dwellings. But New Zealand's real estate market is now in a deep slump, with Auckland down about 20% and Wellington down about 28% from their 2022 peaks.
The industry expects the ultra-high-end dwellings market to rebound under the policy shift. Bloomberg reported that New Zealand's property sector is already buzzing. Caleb Patterson, head of Auckland real estate firm Patterson Luxury, said, "In step with U.S. President Donald Trump's moves, inquiries from the United States to purchase dwellings have surged over the past week," adding, "In the last four days alone, we received six serious buy inquiries from the United States." In fact, according to Sotheby's International Realty in Queenstown, a famed New Zealand resort, visits to its official website by Americans jumped 61% from a year earlier, and by Australians 24%. Managing director Mark Harris said, "Private jets have been flying in and out of Queenstown Airport frequently of late, and interest from AIP visa holders is very strong."
However, the dwellings that foreigners can buy appear to be extremely limited. According to real estate consultancy Collatility, there are about 7,000 dwellings priced above 5 million New Zealand dollars nationwide, just 0.4% of total dwelling inventory. Of these, 4,500 are concentrated in Auckland and 1,250 in Queenstown. Industry experts expect only about 350 of them to come to market each year. As a result, competition is likely to intensify between global wealthy buyers seeking to secure limited "trophy properties" and affluent local residents rushing to purchase before foreigners enter the market.