Stats show more foreign sellers than buyers

New overseas investment act may have triggered the changes

Stats show more foreign sellers than buyers

More overseas investors are selling their New Zealand properties rather than buying them, according to new figures from Statistics New Zealand.

The latest figures showed that in the June quarter of this year, 327 homes in New Zealand were sold by overseas owners while only 183 were purchased.

The change was a huge jump from the second quarter of last year, where 492 homes were sold by overseas owners and a significantly larger 1,116 were purchased.

The current figures mean that there is now a net loss of overseas owners in the country’s housing stock, as more overseas investors are selling rather than buying.

Read more: Statistics on property transfers to overseas buyers

The introduction of the Overseas Investment Amendment Act 2018 has likely triggered the changes, with its restrictions to the purchase of New Zealand residential property by overseas persons or entities when they have even partial overseas ownership or control.

Currently, the trend for overseas sellers outnumbering overseas buyers is nationwide – even in Waitemata Ward of Auckland City, which includes the CBD, Freemans Bay, Grafton, Grey Lynn, Herne Bay, Parnell, Ponsonby, and Westmere.

Statistics NZ’s information on overseas ownership did not include the ownership status of corporate entities when they buy or sell property.

The report also indicated that corporate entities were covered by the provisions of the Overseas Investment Amendment act and they purchased 11% of the homes sold throughout the country in the second quarter of the year, and 20% of the homes in Waitemata ward.

Statistics NZ did not have any figures on how many of the corporate entities may have been owned or controlled by overseas parties.

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