72 farms sold to foreigners in 18 mths

Overseas Investment Office figures show 72 farms sold to foreigners in 18 months to June, two declined

Rural News

Overseas Investment Office figures show 72 farms sold to foreigners in 18 months to June, two declined

12th Jul 11, 9:30am by Alex Tarrant

The Overseas Investment Office approved 72 farm sales to foreigners in the 18 months to June, while two were declined, figures released by Finance Minister Bill English's office show.

English released the figures in reply to Written Parliamentary Questions from Labour Party economic development spokesman David Parker. See the monthly break down of sales numbers here.

The figures also included a monthly breakdown of OIO-approved farm sales in the 24 months between January 2007 and December 2008, showing 74 sales in that period. Figures for sales approved through 2009 were not given.

The government tightened overseas investment rules from the start of this year, giving Ministers more power to deny applications on grounds of character and economic interest. The new rules applied to applications made from 2011, with applications made before that, such as Natural Dairy's failed bid to buy the 16 Crafar Farms, were subject to less stringent rules.

Labour has proposed even tighter overseas investment rules than those currently in place. See its policy here.

Further figures supplied by English show only two applications to the Overseas Investment Office for farms were turned down in the 18 months to June - both in 2010. See the breakdown here.

More soon.

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7 Comments

by Philly | 12th Jul 11, 9:36am 1310420176

... & presumably no tax paid on the capital gains thanks to our "fair and equitable" system!

So you wonder where the benefit is to the country!

Cheers.

by Keyser Söze | 12th Jul 11, 10:25am 1310423112

oh no! And hopefully not to those horrible terrible Chinese people! Ew! Thanks for pandering to your readers, i.c.nz.

Now if you guys were sort of like the afr you would do some actual analysis: How does this compare to Australia and other developed countries on a per capita basis? What is the net inflow - ie, what level of farms are being sold off by foreigners? When foreigners sell do they sell to other foreigners or back to kiwis, and do they do so at a loss or capital gain?

by jh | 12th Jul 11, 1:02pm 1310432545

Chinese symbolise an enormous foriegn population base. The farmland symbolises life in New Zealand and the low population symbolises oppurtunity for the average person.

by Carpetbagger | 12th Jul 11, 11:53am 1310428389

Bob Dylan's "Union Sundown" track should be playing as this page loads. Though it begs the question, how many of these were even in NZ hands in the first place?

by LloydM1 | 12th Jul 11, 12:06pm 1310429180

Countries have food security strategies, does Nz ?

by philthy | 12th Jul 11, 1:05pm 1310432727

These guys are asleep at the wheel, this is the perfect example of why Capital gains tax is needed.

Instead these guys bring in no capital controls, no CGT, just nothing, they are once again too scarred to do anything in case it might annoy someone.

Their excessive borrowing, caused by their excessive tax cutting, has lead to a high dollar ruining exporters, now they try to blame on the US dollar.

The world economic situation has changed dramatically over the last 4 years with record low interest rates everywhere, yet these guys just can't seem to get with the program and realise unless they take some action, this country will be in higher debt, than the already very high debt state it's in.

If Bill English can't do the job (and I don't think he can) they need to replace him quickly with someone who can.

by LloydM1 | 12th Jul 11, 1:17pm 1310433440

I'll say it again, it makes no difference who is in control, red , blue or purple. The outcome is the same, lies , spin & more debt. BE is no finance minister anymore than JK is a PM or his cabinet & himself are capable of managing their portfolios. How long will it take for people to accept that we have been played , and will continually be played , until such time as this is accepted as not being good enough & folk get of their arse and contribute in some way.