Mike's Minute: Stop mucking around - remove the foreign buyer ban

OneRoof had a story over the weekend about an apartment in Auckland that is for sale for $17 million.

It was for sale for $16 million, so they have put the price up despite the fact it has been for sale for several years.

They are looking to the international market where $17 million is not a lot of money.

The article also featured information about a Knight Frank Wealth report that ranked the priorities of those with money and real estate investment was right up there, as well as, for the super wealthy, the ability to have a super yacht park featured highly as well.

The point being, in Auckland your $17 million penthouse can be a few hundred metres away from your super yacht. Yet, in this country foreigners can't do that because they aren't allowed to buy a house.

What they are allowed to do is get a golden visa and the new rules have proved popular. There is good inquiry. For $5-10 million you invest in a business, you employ, you grow, you help us out and, yet, you still can't buy a house.

The fact the apartment has been on the market for years clearly shows no locals want it, or can afford it.

So the fear, as proffered by some, that foreigners take houses off New Zealanders at this level clearly isn't true.

The Government, or parts of it, want to fix this anomaly and yet they can't, or don’t, because NZ First refuses.

Rumours a while back suggested a compromise had been reached. National had an election policy of $2 million as a protection on lower priced houses. The rumour was a figure of $5-6 million had been reached with NZ First but it never came to fruition.

So in Budget week, when yet again the dire state of our finances is laid bare and a commentary around growth will be pushed hard, one of the answers of the wealthy having money to invest, has not been fully enacted because one part in this Government is xenophobic.

This battle to regain our economic mojo is hard enough as it is without ankle-tapping ourselves by refusing to enact blatantly obvious ideas.

If we can't pull every lever possible we have no one to blame but ourselves.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
One Roof had a story over the weekend about an
apartment in Auckland that is for sale for seventeen million dollars.
It was for sale for sixteen million dollars, so they
put the price up despite the fact that it's been
for sale for several years. Now. They're looking to the
international market, where seventeen million is not a lot of money.
The article also featured information about a night franc international

(00:21):
wealth report that ranked the priorities of those with money
and real estate. It turns out real estate investment was
right up there for those people, and for the super wealthy,
the ability to have a super yacht parked featured doe
very highly for them as well. So the point being,
in a place like Auckland, your seventeen million dollar penthouse
can be a few hundred meters away, of course from

(00:42):
your super yacht. Yet in this country foreigners cannot do
that because they are not allowed to buy a house.
What they are allowed to do is get a golden visa,
and the new rules have proved very popular. There's good
inquiry are for five or ten million dollars, you invest
in a business, you employ people, you grow that business,
You help us out as an economy and you still,
despite all of that, can't buy a house. The fact

(01:04):
that the apartment has been on the market now for
years clearly shows no locals want it or indeed can
afford it. So the fear as profit by some that
foreigners take houses off New Zealanders at this level clearly
is not true. The government or parts of it want
to fix this anomaly, and yet they can't or don't
because New Zealand First refuses. Rumors a while back suggested

(01:25):
a compromise had been reached. National had an election policy
of a couple of million dollars as a protection on
the lower priced houses. The rumor wa was that negotiated
a figure with New Zealand First for about fire or
six million ED never came to fruition. So in budget week,
when yet again the dire state of our finances is
laid bare and a commentary around growth will be pushed hard,
one of the answers, i e. The wealthy with money

(01:47):
to invest has not been fully enacted because one part
of the government is xenophobic. This battle to regain our
economic mojo is hard enough as it is without ankle
tapping ourselves by refusing to enact blatantly obvious ideas. If
we can't pull every lever possible, we have no one
to blame but ourselves. For more from the Mic Asking

(02:08):
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