Migrants made up a record share of house purchases last year

Property / news

More than 16,000 homes sold to buyers in New Zealand on residence visas last year

30th Jan 24, 1:35pm by Greg Ninness

The proportion of dwelling sales to people in New Zealand on residence visas hit a record high last year.

According to the latest property transfer figures from Statistics NZ, 16,293 New Zealand dwellings were sold to buyers who had residence visas but not NZ citizenship in 2023, the highest number in any year since Statistics NZ started collating the figures in 2017.

It was also a market share record for residence visa holders, accounting for 13.7% of NZ dwelling sales in 2023.

The share of housing purchases by residence visa holders has steadily increased every year, from 7.8% in 2017 to 13.7% in 2023.

By contrast, the number of dwellings sold by residence visa holders each year has declined for the last two years after peaking at 8286 in 2021.

Residence visa holders sold just 5031 residential dwellings last year, the lowest number since Statistics NZ began collating the figures in 2017.

However the total impact of migrants on the housing market is likely to be much greater than the above figures suggest.

That's because Statistics NZ's figures exclude sales and purchases of properties by corporate structures such as companies, and are likely to exclude nearly all properties bought or sold through a family trust.

They also exclude sales or purchases by migrants who are New Zealand citizens.

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29 Comments

by workingclasslefty | 30th Jan 24, 2:42pm 1706578940

Not this racist rhetoric again, without Migrants this country will have no workers.

by Ngrrk | 30th Jan 24, 2:54pm 1706579678

I'm sure everything has some racial component in your world view. There is literally nothing racist about referring to the impact of migration on house purchases.

by cantab | 30th Jan 24, 3:50pm 1706583007

Actually it’s a chicken and egg problem… without migrants we wouldn’t need (so many) workers.

Is it racist to feel disheartened about being outbid by migrants in the city I grew up in? (and have paid significant rates/taxes towards the development of).

Maybe new arrivals should be required to bring their own infrastructure ;)

by Speedmax | 31st Jan 24, 12:20am 1706613649

New arrivals bring with them energy and education, same as NZ loses when those brought up in NZ emigrate (good thing they don’t take infrastructure with them as they leave…oh hang on, there isn’t any)

by HouseMouse | 30th Jan 24, 3:25pm 1706581554

Working class lefty? With a name like that, shouldn’t you be concerned with the impact of mass immigration on wage suppression?

by Nzdan | 30th Jan 24, 3:37pm 1706582231

Didn't see any mention of ethnicity in the article?

Pretty typical though of someone who calls themselves a "lefty" to pull out the race card, probably why there's never any intelligent constructive discussions because people like you are so easily offended. Any conversation you don't like is shut down with the usual primitive and emotive buzzwords.

by General Comment | 30th Jan 24, 3:37pm 1706582279

Are you saying all migrants are non-white? Or might they also be the "wrong kind of white"? That's awkward.

by legrandsoir | 30th Jan 24, 3:58pm 1706583521

I think xenophobic is the term he was going for

by tis i | 30th Jan 24, 4:22pm 1706584964

Hope y’all didn’t just assume his race!

by Nzdan | 30th Jan 24, 4:44pm 1706586262

Probably the sort that when they hear negative connotations about white people it's okay, but as soon as you even mention any other skin colour or ethnicity other than European it's instantly a racist remark.

workingclasslefty's logic:

"My friend is white trash" = okay
"My brother in law is Asian" = abhorrent racism.

by pacifica | 31st Jan 24, 4:13pm 1706670815

Especially ironic as many indigenous Asians have white skin, more european eye folds & structure etc, Asia is a big place and many Asian tribes, (with no borders with European countries), are fair skinned. Isn't the migration of humans, our medical variations & constant breeding with every new human we met fun. It certainly makes it sad in the NZ context as many left commenters see it as not racist to discredit, abuse, strip & deny the identity & mana of, and discriminate against someone with Maori heritage who is fair skinned but the second you question the absolute authority & physical abuse of a iwi leader you did not vote for and who is harming mokopuna "oh thats racist".

Hmm perhaps we do need to have a conversation because even those in power need to own up to their crimes, no matter their heritage and status. We have seen it with the Royal Commission on Abuse in Care where priests were protected, we need equal accountability from high status iwi leaders too. We also need iwi leaders to recognize their own abuse and discrimination of those who look up to them to show a better example for the future generations who come after us.

by Yvil | 30th Jan 24, 3:12pm 1706580765

Sooo… here we have it: some (quite a few) of the many (supposedly poor) immigrants are buying houses in NZ.

by HouseMouse | 30th Jan 24, 3:26pm 1706581604

While not massive it’s certainly of sone significance.

by Zwifter | 30th Jan 24, 4:05pm 1706583943

Yep amazing isn't it that kiwi's still think all the migrants are broke. More likely a whole bunch of smart ones with cash who can see how the world is trending are bailing to one of the safest places on earth.

by agnostium | 30th Jan 24, 6:20pm 1706592032

As a percentage of migrants how many does that work out to be?

237,100 migrants in 2023, 16,000 migrants with work visas bought.

by HouseMouse | 30th Jan 24, 6:44pm 1706593465

Exactly. Hence my comment just above.

And you probably need to look across a couple of years of immigration - 300k plus? - as many migrants need a couple of years to settle before buying.

by Yvil | 30th Jan 24, 7:59pm 1706597950

Bad maths Agnostium. It's not 16'000 migrants who bought a house, it's 16'000 houses bought by migrants. The difference is there is about 3 migrants living in a house, so 48'000 migrants, not 16'000.

So to answer your question, it's bit over 20%

by HouseMouse | 30th Jan 24, 8:49pm 1706600984

I don’t think the children of people with residence visas have a residence visa as such? I think it’s a dependent visa?

If that’s the case then it’s probably around 10-15%

by Speedmax | 31st Jan 24, 12:24am 1706613842

The stats don’t say that the 16,000 houses were all bought by 2023 arrivals

by Eschaton | 30th Jan 24, 3:35pm 1706582121

Kiwis still very naive I see.

by tomjones_04 | 30th Jan 24, 4:01pm 1706583684

Are immigrants classed as first home buyers? (Statistically)

by Palmtree08 | 30th Jan 24, 5:27pm 1706588873

Interesting point. My guess is yes. If they haven't owned a house in NZ before, they could be a ninety y.o. first home buyer.

by HouseMouse | 30th Jan 24, 6:49pm 1706593743

How does credit history work in relation to immigrants buying housing - assuming they need a mortgage.

Surely banks would want to see at least 2-3 years of stable income and good credit record before lending?

Thoughts?

by starrider | 30th Jan 24, 7:18pm 1706595505

Nope. As long as the deposit is big enough they don't care that much..

by HouseMouse | 30th Jan 24, 8:38pm 1706600331

What constitutes ‘big enough’?

by lockdowndays | 30th Jan 24, 11:37pm 1706611058

Happy for migrants to buy houses, they are part of a functioning economy and are more than welcome here, they usually bring with them a better work ethics and new skills, culture and outlook on life. What I'm less happy with is our anti progressive government being pro-growth population wise, while promising to build fewer houses by rolling back the intensity rules, making house ownership harder for everyone across the board:

https://thekaka.substack.com/p/dawn-chorus-for-tuesday-january-30

"The new avowedly pro-growth coalition Government is preparing to enable councils to block new housing growth, especially anywhere near stand-alone houses in the leafier suburbs close to the city centres of our fastest growing cities."

by Speedmax | 31st Jan 24, 12:27am 1706614071

Excellent point…highlights hypocrisy. Pro-growth, but only for some

by 1689 Baptist | 31st Jan 24, 4:50am 1706629801

my wife is American and holds residency. I am a NZ citizen but immigrated here 27 years ago at the age of nine. We bought a house last year together. I wonder what side of the ledger we fall on with this Stat.

by kiwikeith | 31st Jan 24, 3:49pm 1706669382

Don;t know, The important thing is which side of the freeloader/net contributor ledger you are on.