There were sharp declines in the number of New Zealand residential properties purchased or sold by overseas owners in the first quarter of this year.
The latest figures from Statistics NZ show that just 93 residential properties were purchased by people who were neither NZ citizens or who had residence visas, in the March quarter of this year.
That was less than half the number of overseas buyers who purchased residential properties in the first quarter of last year and less than 10% compared to the first quarter of 2018.
There was also a big drop in the number of residential properties sold by overseas owners in the first quarter of this year, which dropped to 246 from 423 in the first quarter of last year.
However, the number of overseas owners selling their NZ residential properties has outnumbered those buying them by a substantial margin since the first quarter of 2019.
There has been a substantial decline in the number of overseas buyers purchasing NZ residential property since the Overseas Investment Amendment Act, which severely restricts the ability on non-NZ citizens and/or people without a NZ residence visa, to purchase residential property, came into effect in October 2018.
The table below shows the quarterly sales and purchases by overseas buyers and sellers since the first quarter of 2018.
The areas where overseas owners were most active in the 12 months to March this year were Auckland with 201 purchases and 711 sales by overseas owners, followed by Christchurch with 72 purchases and 93 sales and Queenstown-lakes with 63 purchases and 90 sales.
However, the Statistics NZ figures give only a partial view of overseas owner activity because they only record property transfers undertaken by overseas individuals in their own name.
They do not include sales or purchases undertaken by companies or most trusts, even if the ultimate beneficiaries of those entities are non-NZ citizens or residents.
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| Overseas Buyers/Sellers of NZ Residential Properties | ||||
| Quarterly | ||||
| Buyers | Sellers | |||
| Mar-18 | 1,083 | 501 | ||
| Jun-18 | 1,116 | 492 | ||
| Sep-18 | 717 | 378 | ||
| Dec-18 | 885 | 414 | ||
| Mar-19 | 204 | 327 | ||
| Jun-19 | 183 | 327 | ||
| Sep-19 | 186 | 309 | ||
| Dec-19 | 147 | 333 | ||
| Mar-20 | 153 | 324 | ||
| Jun-20 | 105 | 243 | ||
| Sep-20 | 240 | 369 | ||
| Dec-20 | 174 | 438 | ||
| Mar-21 | 192 | 423 | ||
| Jun-21 | 135 | 366 | ||
| Sep-21 | 132 | 354 | ||
| Dec-21 | 174 | 339 | ||
| Mar-22 | 93 | 246 | ||
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