NZ unlocks $5m property market for wealthy golden visa holders; Here's how you can purchase

New Zealand will loosen its ban on foreign homebuyers, allowing wealthy investors with golden visas to purchase luxury properties worth at least NZ$5 million ($3 million). The coalition government announced Monday that the exemption will be written into law by the end of the year as part of reforms to the Overseas Investment Act, according to a report by Bloomberg.

“Globally, New Zealand has a deserved reputation as a great place to live and we want to grow our economy,” Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said in a statement. “By opening our door just a little to allow significant investors to own a home, we will help attract more of those who want to contribute to the community and country.”

The move builds on Luxon’s push to draw high-net-worth individuals through the recently relaunched Active Investor Plus visa, which grants residency in exchange for major capital commitments. “If you are a major international investor, New Zealand is just one of 195 countries all competing for your money and your ideas,” Luxon told reporters in Auckland. “The competition is fierce, and the solution is actually competing harder. The Active Investor Plus visa, coupled with the ability now to purchase a NZ$5 million home, is doing exactly that.”

As of August 31, Immigration New Zealand data showed 308 visa applications covering around 1,000 people, representing potential investments of NZ$1.9 billion. About 40% of applicants are from the United States.

Currently, citizens and residents of New Zealand, along with nationals from Australia and Singapore, are the only groups free to buy homes. That restriction, introduced by then–Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in 2018, followed concerns that foreign buyers were worsening affordability and came amid a scandal over PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel’s passport-for-sale case.

According to consultancy Cotality, only about 7,000 homes in the country are valued above NZ$5 million, less than 0.5% of the housing stock. Around 4,500 of them are in Auckland and 1,250 in Queenstown, though just 350 typically go on sale each year.

“Those who may have considered New Zealand in the past, but discounted investing here because of the inability to purchase property, are now back in the game,” Stuart Nash, a former government minister who now advises wealthy individuals seeking to relocate, told Bloomberg.

Analysts say the policy shift is unlikely to impact the broader market. “There might be some people out there who are worried about what this is going to do to local house prices. Well, it probably won’t do much,” said Cotality chief property economist Kelvin Davidson. “For the wider housing market, there’s much bigger restraints in the form of the weak labor market at the moment.”

House prices in New Zealand have stagnated since their pandemic-era surge, falling for a fourth consecutive month in July. Luxon argued the targeted exemption “navigates a path between those who do not want foreign ownership opened up, and the desire to attract high-net-worth investors by deepening their connection to our country to help grow the economy.”