Overseas home buyers spend large in Southern Lakes

New data from Stats NZ shows property sales to overseas buyers in the Queenstown Lakes District have increased to 9.7%, up from 7% in June last year.

The property statistics manager for Stats NZ, Melissa McKenzie, said that the increase could be due to the Government's change of policy on overseas property ownership.

"Consultation about amendments to the Overseas Investment Act may have been a factor in recent increases in the proportion of transfers to non-New Zealand citizens. The proposed changes could make it more challenging for overseas buyers to purchase residential land in New Zealand" said McKenzie.

The Queenstown Lakes District has the highest proportion of overseas property buyers and its on the rise. Stats NZ

While overseas property sales went from 7% to 9.7% between June 2017 and March this year, Auckland went from 4.8% to 7.3% and the country as a whole went from 2.4% to 3.3%.

Stats NZ says that the changes were also driven by overall changes in the market.

Queenstown Lakes overseas property sales compared to Auckland the national average. Stats NZ

“The proportion of homes transferred to overseas people rose to 3.3 percent in the March quarter, from 2.9 percent in the December 2017 quarter,” property statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said.

“This increase was driven by a fall in the total number of transfers, and a small rise in the number of transfers to overseas people.”

Here's the full breakdown of overseas property sales. Stats NZ

“The proportion of overseas sellers also increased in the March quarter, to reach 1.5 percent, after staying steady at 1.3 percent for a year.”

Nearly 33,000 homes were transferred in the March 2018 quarter. Almost 4 in 5 of these were transferred to at least one New Zealand citizen. The other 1 in 5 were transferred to corporate entities, resident-visa holders, and overseas people.

“Home transfers aren’t just the sale and purchase of houses, although for simplicity we refer to the people involved in transfers as buyers and sellers. They also include the transfer of a deceased family member’s home, a marriage settlement, and administrative changes,” Ms McKenzie said.