Pattrick Smellie: BusinessDesk managing editor on the Government signing off on new rules for foreign investors

It's looking more likely that NZ First is on board with the new rules for foreign investors - including a shake-up for overseas buyers of property.

New reports claim NZ First is set to agree to allow wealthy people to purchase homes over a certain threshold - it's rumoured to be $5 million.

BusinessDesk's Pattrick Smellie explains further.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We've got Patrick Smelly from Business Desk. It sounds like
New Zealand First has come to the party when it
comes to overseas buyers of property, and Patrick a Business
desk is reporting New Zealand First is set to agree
to allow wealthy people to buy homes above a certain threshold,
reportedly five million dollars. So Patrick Smeley from Business Desk
is with me. Now, Hello Patrick, Hi Andrew. I'm sure

(00:23):
I'm not the only person who has written there, you know, Okay,
do we know that the threshold is five million dollars?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
We don't know that, and in many ways do pervot
arms with you. I think the more important thing is
that New Zealand First has agreed to a set of
reforms to the Overseas Investment Regime and so Act. And
it seems to me that that's actually even more significant
than the residential property thing, because that's what international investors

(00:56):
coming into the summit next month will be wanting to know.
So it's almost like that Summits has accelerated a debate
that had to be had at the Patnet table about
how they got to that point, and all this visa
stuff is really supporting all of that, so that people
who might want to come here in the course of
making investments will find that easier to do.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, okay, I understand act absolutely, but New Zealand first,
that is a sea change.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
They have been persuaded over a period of time, and
Peter started talking about it last year, and I think
Shane Jones is particularly on board and has probably been
influential in changing Winston Peters's mind to a more nuanced
view about foreign investment. And as long as it's a

(01:47):
reasonably toppy threshold. I mean, there was a cartoon I
saw in a newspaper this morning which suggested that letting
rich people coming from from America or wherever by very
expensive homes would would increase homelesses. So I thought, I
don't really think that's very likely. They're not going to
be buying house that the average first home buyer is
looking for.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
They might even be allowed to Yeah, exactly, well five
million goddon speak. You know, here we go. So you've
already mentioned, of course we've got the summit. It's coming
up very shortly, and this is setting quite a good
scene for the whole thing. When you look at all
the business settings that we are presenting before these international investors.
Are we starting to look attractive enough?

Speaker 2 (02:33):
I doubt it, But I do think that there are
a number of things which start to come together, or
should start to come together, which maybe at the moment
they're a bit hard to see how they connect because
they're not the connections not happening. If you've put a
big list of fast track projects that need funding in
front of a whole bunch of people with lots of
money which they want to deploy in safe countries to

(02:55):
do good things and hopefully make some money, then fast
Track and the infrastructure projects that the government has on
its own books represents a whole bunch of opportunities for investment.
So it's now becoming possible to think that you could
get it. If you think in these terms, instead of
it taking ages, it will be reasonbly quick to get

(03:16):
the thing underway. So yeah, I think to some extent,
but I think it's the reality is only going to
set in very slowly.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
But of course it means nothing if we don't actually
get people with investment capability, you know, and our higher
class of investment capability to come along. And they've been
very tight lipped about who's coming to the summit. I
interviewed neck Leggett the other day from Infrastructure New Zealand.
I said, mate, are you invited? And he went, I
don't know. Do you know? Do you live it?

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Signed?

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, I know exactly. I would have thought he would
have been number one or certainly high up there from
the New Zealand side. Do you know who's been invited?

Speaker 2 (03:52):
I know a few of the people have been invited,
and I have make educated guesses about others. I mean
New Zealand first is very keen on the on the
Singaporean Government's Sovereign Wealth Fund Temasek. I would expect them
to be there. We know that Morrison and Co. Which
is the company that manages infratil infrastructure Investor, will be

(04:15):
there and has invited other parties that they deal with
internationally to be present, some banks, some some other. I
think she's struggling to remember who the hell we know
about all Black of course kind of lotted copy of it.
But they will send a reasonably senior person, which is

(04:39):
which is which is good? I kind of thought they'd
abandoned us.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Really, Okay, Patrick, Yes, Black Rock is coming and that's
gonna that's going to put some wolves amongst the sheep,
is it not? Anyway? Thank you so much for your time.
Patrick'smily from Business Desk. For more from Hither Duplasus Allen Drive.
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