Landlords call for foreign buyer measures

Auckland Property Investors' Association president Andrew Bruce said there should be closer scrutiny and better understanding of overseas-based property buyers. Photo: Dean Purcell.

Auckland landlords have called for Government action against overseas property buyers, saying information was needed on their numbers.

Andrew Bruce, president of the Auckland Property Investors' Association, said there should be closer scrutiny and better understanding of overseas-based property buyers to address the stress they are creating on the Auckland housing market.

The Government has to date ruled out taking any action, either in measuring numbers or in ushering in taxes or measures to deter foreigners' influence.

But Bruce said that wasn't good enough.

"It has to be a two-step process starting with a better understanding of exactly how many foreign buyers there are and to what extent they impact our housing market as well as the economy as whole.

"Are they investors who provide accommodation services and feed into the local economy?

"Are they absentee speculators who leave the houses empty and grossly inflate our prices?" Bruce said.

"To me, there can be no credibility to any level of debate on this matter until we fully understand what we are dealing with."

Policies must then follow to preserve the fundamental value our community shares, that is the accessibility to housing for ordinarily Kiwi families as either homes or investments, he said.

"Once we have that information, we can then really look at ways to level the playing field. Or indeed if the playing field needs to be levelled at all," continues Bruce.

"We are starting from a blank slate as by and large New Zealand is a fairly unregulated open society that attracts foreign interest.

"This needn't be a hindrance but rather an advantage. We have a real opportunity here to make meaningful changes so that foreign investment promotes our economy and increases housing accessibility to all."

Some of the suggested policies being mooted include restriction on foreign buyers to buy only un-built building plans rather than existing houses in order to boost housing supply; additional taxes and duties that are directly funnelled into grants and subsidies for first-home buyers or the government to free up more land; and some level of mandatory re-investment each foreign property acquisition has to make back into the New Zealand economy.

"Fundamentally in Auckland, there is a supply issue that underpins the current market stress," Bruce said.