Purchases of New Zealand homes by foreign buyers have declined by 91% since restrictions on foreign buyers were introduced in 2018.
In the June quarter just 96 dwellings were purchased by people who did not hold New Zealand citizenship or a New Zealand residence visa.
That was the second lowest number after the March quarter of this year, when just 93 properties were purchased by foreign buyers.
By comparison, in the June quarter of 2018, before the restrictions were introduced, 1116 dwellings were purchased by foreign buyers.
Statistics NZ estimates that about 0.3% of residential dwelling transfers in the June quarter of this year were to foreign owners.
Over the 12 months to June this year, 495 homes were purchased by foreign buyers compared to 4017 in the 12 months to June 2018.
However foreign owners have been more active as sellers than as buyers, with sales New Zealand dwellings by foreign owners running at more than twice the pace of purchases.
In the June quarter of this year 210 dwellings were sold by foreign owners, down from 492 in the same quarter of 2018.
In the 12 months to June this year 1152 NZ homes were sold by foreign owners, down from 1902 in the year to June 2018.
The figures suggest foreigners are much less active in NZ's housing market than they were before the restrictions were introduced, although they do not give a complete picture.
That's because the figures only capture transactions where a property was held in an overseas person's own name.
They do not record transactions involving either a sale or a purchase where the ownership of the property was via a company, even if the controlling or beneficial shareholders are foreign.
The figures are also very unlikely to capture most transactions where the property involved is owned by a trust, even if the beneficiaries or most of the trustees are foreign.
Note: Statistics NZ have advised that their original estimate that 3% of dwelling transfers in Q2 2022 were to foreign owners was wrong, and have corrected this to 0.3%. We have amended this story accordingly.
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