Low number of foreign home buyers in Rotorua

New data shows 1 per cent of Rotorua houses sold in the six months to March were bought by non-resident buyers.

That amounted to 15 homes which were sold to overseas tax residents out of a total of 1500 homes sold between October and March.

Nationally, 3 per cent of purchases were made by overseas tax residents and in Auckland that figure was 4 per cent.

The figures were released by Land Information New Zealand this week. Since October last year, the tax residency of people buying property in New Zealand has to be recorded under the Land Transfer Amendment Act.

Land Information New Zealand warned the data was not complete. About 10 per cent of sales across the country involved buyers who did not need to disclose tax information because their sale and purchase agreement was signed before the law came into force in October.

It broke down the sales into those that had at least one buyer who stated an overseas tax residency. In Rotorua 15 transactions involved this in the six month period.

In 657 Rotorua transactions the only tax residency stated was New Zealand and in 828 Rotorua transactions tax information wasn't required like a main home.

Ross Stanway, chief executive of Realty Services, which operates Bayleys and Eves, said the figures were fairly small and he didn't believe foreign buyers were a major issue in Rotorua.

First National principal and Rotorua REINZ spokeswoman Ann Crossley said she wasn't surprised by the 1 per cent figure.