Commentary from CoreLogic RE: today’s foreign buyer statistics.

It’s clear from today’s Statistics NZ figures that October’s Foreign Buyer Ban has cut into property demand from this source, and is likely to have contributed to the softening in values in areas such as Auckland and Queenstown.

 CoreLogic Senior Property Economist Kelvin Davidson comments:

In the first three months of the year there were 204 property purchases by people without citizenship or a residency visa, equating to 0.6% of the total. The data only goes back to the end of 2016, but 0.6% was still easily the lowest on record. At the same time, 1.0% of sales went to people without citizenship/residency, resulting in a net purchasing figure of -0.4% – or in other words, net selling.

Clearly, last October’s Foreign Buyer Ban has now taken full effect and there have been some pretty dramatic shifts in areas such as Central Auckland and Queenstown. For example, a year ago, 18.7% of purchases in Waitemata were made by non-citizens/residents, but now that’s just 3.2% (which will be Australians, Singaporeans, or other people buying apartments in large-scale developments). The same figure for Queenstown has dropped from 9.7% to 2.7%.

In light of these figures, it’s no coincidence that sales activity and property values have recently softened in these ‘prime’ markets. Admittedly, other factors such as low affordability and tighter credit availability are still playing a key role. But the Foreign Buyer Ban is clearly having an effect too, and for would-be local buyers, there’ll be more opportunities to access the market at a lower price than might otherwise have been the case.