Waikato Herald
  • Waikato Herald home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Rural
  • Lifestyle
  • Lotto results

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Lifestyle
  • Lotto results

Locations

  • Hamilton
  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Matamata & Piako
  • Cambridge
  • Te Awamutu
  • Tokoroa & South Waikato
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Weather

  • Thames
  • Hamilton
  • Tokoroa
  • Taumarunui
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Waikato News / Property

Property used to enter NZ, says dispirited developer

By Anne Gibson
Hamilton News·
27 Nov, 2012 05:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

An Auckland developer building houses for under $400,000 says Chinese are using property as a ticket into this country because owning real estate increases immigration visa points.

Grant La Hood of Citywide Homes said Chinese buying Auckland houses had pushed up prices and he wants deterrent measures.


He backed a
Herald article last Tuesday about the high number of Auckland house sales to non-resident and migrant Chinese.

He said that was the first story in the debate that dealt with the real issue behind rapidly rising prices.

"I spend my days looking for suitable development sites and it is almost impossible to compete," he said of wealthy Chinese.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He completes about 10 to 15 houses a year and said the housing market should represent the domestic economy, but that instead it represented the wealth of people from much larger economies.

"Let's remember housing is a necessity and not just a commodity to be bought, sold and traded. Politicians need to spend some time in the auction rooms and see the demoralised faces of first-home buyers to truly understand why Kiwis are fleeing to Australia. Aucklanders would be shocked to know how much of our rental stock is owned by investors living in places like Hong Kong and China."

One real estate agent told him 60 per cent of his agency's rent roll was non-resident Asian investors.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"The investor category allows foreigners to buy land to secure points for their visa application. Buying property is like buying a ticket into this country," La Hood said.

But Marcus Beveridge of Queen City Law said New Zealand had always been an immigrant country and he is acting for non-resident mainland Chinese investors, particularly in the commercial sector.

Meanwhile, Spain was considering offering rich investors from countries such as Russia and China the right to settle in return for them buying up property in the stagnant housing sector. Spain has more than a million empty homes across the country.

Hong Kong and Singapore introduced a 10 per cent stamp duty on non-resident property buyers to deter mainland Chinese who had been big investors. The stamp duty has acted as a cooling measure.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Property

Property

Legal hook means buyers risk losing thousands on some Kāinga Ora homes

Property

$1m deceased estate overlooking prestigious golf course for sale

Business

Further property sold in $100m+ Cook Property empire


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Property

Legal hook means buyers risk losing thousands on some Kāinga Ora homes
Property

Legal hook means buyers risk losing thousands on some Kāinga Ora homes

Iwi have right of refusal on Hamilton state homes.

11 Jul 08:45 AM
$1m deceased estate overlooking prestigious golf course for sale
Property

$1m deceased estate overlooking prestigious golf course for sale

08 Jul 06:25 PM
Further property sold in $100m+ Cook Property empire
Business

Further property sold in $100m+ Cook Property empire

30 Jun 04:59 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Waikato Herald e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Waikato Herald
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP