Offshore buyers first in

Luxury properties including farmland and homes are being sold to wealthy foreign investors without being available to New Zealand buyers.

Up to 100 farms, businesses and high-end homes will be sold at property expos in the UK and Switzerland by real estate firm Bayleys.

Bayleys national country manager Richard Graham said some property owners had chosen to sell directly to offshore investors before placing them on the market domestically.

Graham said: "Demand from the local market has been tough and some vendors have chosen to sell their properties overseas.

"There is this feeling that people are coming in and buying up the whole of New Zealand when it's not actually the case."

But the sell-off has provoked an outcry among Opposition politicians who say prospective Kiwi homeowners should have an equal opportunity to buy properties.

Labour associate finance spokesman David Parker said the lax laws on foreign ownership meant overseas investors could pay less tax than New Zealanders.

To read the full NZ Herald article, click here

Posted: 15 Aug 2010

News articles