Prime Minister Christopher Luxon hopes the home ownership change will encourage even more wealthy foreign investors to consider New Zealand as a place to do business. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon hopes the home ownership change will encourage even more wealthy foreign investors to consider New Zealand as a place to do business. Photo / Mark Mitchell
THE FACTS
Wealthy foreigners with a Golden Visa can buy homes worth $5 million, aiming to boost the economy.
Winston Peters supports the move, allowing purchases without raising overall property prices.
The visa requires a minimum $5 million investment, with 308 applications from the US, China, and Hong Kong.
Allowing wealthy foreigners with a golden ticket visa the ability to buy a $5 million home in New Zealand makes plenty of sense and should be welcomed with open arms to help boost our economy.
There will be many New Zealanders who see foreign investment as anevil offshore monster wanting to devour our homes, our standards and our way of life.
But opening up the expensive home ownership market to uber-rich foreigners will hopefully attract wealthy people who want to become part of the Kiwi lifestyle, like Canadian-born director James Cameron.
And though NZ First has long championed a ban on foreign ownership, leader Winston Peters is supporting this new move because it allows those with the Active Investor Plus residency visa - referred to as a Golden Visa – room to buy homes without pushing up the price of New Zealand property.
We have welcomed wealthy foreign investors such as Oscar-winning director Cameron, who came to Aotearoa in 2012, fell in love with the place, owns more than 30 properties, and this year became a New Zealand citizen.
Jason Momoa is another Hollywood star buying land and establishing roots in New Zealand.
What wonderful movie scripts they would make. Cameron and Momoa could play themselves?
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon arriving for his post-Cabinet press conference in the Beehive theatrette, Parliament, Wellington.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who needs some good news following speculation of a leadership coup, hopes the change will encourage even more wealthy foreign investors to consider New Zealand as a place to do business.
“It offers residency to a migrant who invests a minimum of $5m to help grow the economy, passes a good character test, and has acceptable health,” Luxon said when making the announcement.
The Golden Visa requires a minimum of $5m put into direct investments or managed funds. There is also a $10m category, with a wider range of options for investments.
Only 1% of New Zealand homes are valued at $5m or more.
There were about 1.9 million houses in New Zealand, and of those, about 10,000 were worth $5m or more, with 80% of those homes in Auckland and 10% Queenstown.
There have been 308 applications for the Golden Visa with applicants from the US, China and Hong Kong.
This change for foreign investment into New Zealand comes after the 2020 Labour-NZ First Government limited the ability of non-residents and non-citizens to buy homes here.
