Samoa wins approval for harbourside

The Samoan Government has won approval to buy a large slice of Auckland waterfront land for a new diplomatic residence.

The Overseas Investment Office approved Samoa's application to buy 49 and 51 Norana Ave, Favona for $2 million.

Norana Ave is a cul-de-sac at the end of a peninsula jutting into the Manukau Harbour. Young Hui Liu of New Zealand sold the 1.7ha section.

The land is classified as being of a sensitive nature so special approval was needed. "The applicant intends to acquire the land to build a consular residence," the OIO said.

Only six applications were approved by the OIO in June. Last week, the office released its June decisions and said it had approved 68 foreign deals so far this year.

The June approvals involved 25ha of land. In the first six months of this year, foreigners got approval for deals involving 13,499ha of land.

Fletcher Concrete and Infrastructure, 33 per cent Australian, got approval to pay Joy Calway $2.2 million for 19.7ha of land to establish a buffer zone around its Hunua Quarry.

Britain's Tomcat Holdings got consent to buy 2.4ha of land at 140 Gills Rd at Point Ridge Albany from New Zealand's Urban Developments.

The amount of money involved in the deal was suppressed.

Greystone River of the US got approval for a $5 million deal involving 8ha of Marlborough vineyard land.

Australia's The South Side Trust NZ got approval to buy 4.9ha of Havelock North land from Kiwis Bryan and Noela Austen-Smith for $1.8 million.

Martin and Michelle Bullock of Britain got approval to buy almost a hectare of land at Titirangi for $760,000.