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New Zealand bans sales of homes to foreigners
New Zealand's parliament has banned many foreigners from buying existing homes in the country - a move aimed at making properties more affordable. The ban only applies to non-residents. Australians and Singaporeans are exempt because of free-trade deals.
New Zealand is facing a housing affordability crisis which has left home ownership out of reach for many. Low interest rates, limited housing stock and immigration have driven up prices in recent years.
[...] [Foreigners] are now banned from purchasing most types of homes - but they will be able to make limited investments in new apartments in large developments.
[...] Chinese investors have been among the biggest and most active offshore buyers of property in the New Zealand market. Also, some wealthy Americans - like Silicon Valley tech billionaire Peter Thiel - have become New Zealand citizens or have bought property in the country. Average prices in New Zealand have risen more than 60% in the past 10 years, while in Auckland - the country's largest city - they have almost doubled.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 17 2018, @05:37AM
Somehow, 30% doesn't strike me as a majority. You can't count. More likely, you can't tell the difference between Chinese, Tibetan, Japanese, Sikh, Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese...
In the 1990s, when the British lease on Hong Kong was clearly not going to be renewed, Vancouver rolled out a welcome mat and practiced their welcoming hug. It paid off handsomely, there were a few years of construction boom, and then things settled down. You'd have to be a local to notice the difference; BC had a large Chinese contingent to begin with, as the western Canadian railways were pretty much built by them over 150 years ago. But the Chinese ethnic composition has nothing to do with the current real estate bubble.
That is 100% the government, banks, and real estate industry turning a blind eye to foreign money laundering. A report came out earlier this year that under the previous administration whenever junior government staff (not in on the take) raised the issues with their superiors, they got told "we're looking into it, thank you, leave it be."