Figures reflect the impact of the foreign buyer ban
The number of home transfers to people who didn’t hold New Zealand citizenship or a resident visa has dropped in the March quarter.
According to Statistics NZ’s latest report, there were 204 home transfers to overseas buyers in March, down 81% from the 1,083 in the same period last year. Total home transfers fell 3.5 percent over the same period.
“Overseas people acquired just 0.6% of homes transferred in the first quarter of 2019, reflecting law changes in late 2018 that introduced restrictions for overseas buyers,” property statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said. “The share of home transfers to overseas people peaked at 3.3% in the March 2018 quarter when the law changes were being discussed.”
However, despite the decline, McKenzie noted the figures are unlikely to ever be zero due to exemptions for some overseas buyers. There are exemptions for those that buy new apartments in certain developments that add to New Zealand’s housing supply, and for Australian and Singaporean citizens.
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“Transfers aren’t counted until a sale is completed, which can take a month or longer after the contract is signed. While the law change took effect part way through the December 2018 quarter, the fall in transfers to overseas people was more noticeable in recent months,” McKenzie noted.
In Auckland, the share of homes transferred to overseas buyers varied accounted to 1.1% in March, compared to a high of 7.8% in March 2018. Quarterly, the number of homes transferred to that group went from 678 in the March 2018 quarter to 111 in the March 2019 quarter.
“In both Auckland and New Zealand as a whole, the fall in overseas home buyers this quarter coincided with about an 80% drop in home transfers to Chinese tax residents,” McKenzie added.
