Franchise owner of Ray White Realty Focus in Mount Maunganui and Papamoa Greg Purcell.
Franchise owner of Ray White Realty Focus in Mount Maunganui and Papamoa Greg Purcell.
Tauranga property experts doubt the Government's latest move to slow Auckland's housing inflation will make any difference in the Bay.
The capital gains of people selling residential property within two years of buying it will now be taxed, Prime Minister John Key announced yesterday morning as part of the Budget package.
The move, to take effect from October 1, is expected to address Auckland house inflation, which has seen property values increase by 18 per cent in a year and 60 per cent since 2008.
Tauranga Harcourts franchise managing director Simon Martin.
The exemptions will be if the property sold is the seller's main home, if it is part of a deceased estate or inherited, or if it is transferred as part of a relationship settlement. The tax will be at the seller's normal income tax rate.
However, local experts say Tauranga property investors are long-term buyers and the slower market did not attract speculators.
Greg Purcell, franchise owner of Ray White Realty Focus in Mount Maunganui and Papamoa, said the Auckland market may be driven up by short-term investors but that was not the case here.
Eves and Bayleys Real Estate chief executive Ross Stanway.
"I appreciate that could be an Auckland problem but definitely, in my opinion, it's not a problem here."
Tauranga Rentals owner Dan Lusby said Tauranga property buyers would be unlikely to buy and sell within two years, which gave tenants security for a long-term rental.
"In the Tauranga market we tend to find they are long-term investors ... True investors hold on to their properties for a long time."
Tauranga Harcourts franchise managing director Simon Martin was disappointed in the Government's "blanket" approach to an Auckland problem.
"The Tauranga market hasn't been growing at a rate where you would want to sell it off that quickly anyway."
Tauranga Property Investors Association secretary Lindsay Richards believed the capital gains tax was "just another way to tax people".
"I don't think it'll make much difference in Tauranga. People will just keep doing what they're doing," he said.
Eves and Bayleys Real Estate chief executive Ross Stanway agreed the move was aimed at the Auckland market, where an investor could make a reasonable profit on a short-term investment because of how quickly prices were rising.
Tauranga's annual house price increase of 4 to 5 per cent was not enough for short-term speculators to profit, so the new rules were "hardly likely to affect our region", he said.
As there were already measures in place to tax speculators, Mr Stanway believed the move was angled at monitoring and clamping down on short-term investors. New disclosure rules will also give the Government information on who is buying property, residents or non-residents.
All buyers and sellers of any property other than their main home will be required to supply a New Zealand IRD number as part of the usual land process with Land Information New Zealand. And non-residents will need a New Zealand bank account to get an IRD number.
