Home 禄 Business 禄 Real Estate
House ban won鈥檛 cause price collapse
New Zealand鈥檚 proposal to ban foreigners from buying existing homes will not cause house prices to collapse, insisted Trade Minister David Parker, but it has to be fast tracked to beat restrictions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal.
The Labor government has said it will get the new crackdown into law in early 2018, in a move that will precede the trade deal and brings it in line with countries such as Australia.
The TPP is set to remove New Zealand鈥檚 ability to bar overseas investment in its residential property market.
Parker told Radio New Zealand, in an interview, that the ban was unlikely to dent New Zealand鈥檚 house prices, which have soared 50 percent in the past decade, though growth has eased off recently.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not going to collapse house prices and it鈥檚 true that this was more of a problem two years ago,鈥 Parker said.
鈥淚f you don鈥檛 do it now, you can never do it. Because if TPP is entered into, New Zealand will have lost the policy space to protect the New Zealand housing market for New Zealanders,鈥 he added.
The move underscores the stark change under Labor compared with the previous National government, which had touted New Zealand鈥檚 small economy as open to investment.
New Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has promised that Labor will be a more interventionist government, which she says is necessary to combat growing inequality.
There is little reliable data on the proportion of New Zealand homes owned by foreigners.
Government figures suggested only around 3 percent of house sales involved non-residents. Labor has criticized those numbers, saying they do not include many categories of ownership, such as through trusts.
Real estate industry members echoed Parker鈥檚 comments that any dramatic impact from the new rules was unlikely and questioned the need for them.
鈥淭here is little data or evidence that clearly links the role foreign buyers have in allegedly increasing house prices, so from our perspective, we would just like some clarification on what the ban is trying to achieve,鈥 said Bindi Norwell, chief executive of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand in an emailed statement.
The new residential investment clampdown will bring New Zealand in line with similar hot housing markets around the world, causing home prices in cities such as Vancouver and Sydney to skyrocket.
The planned ban would not apply to Australians, given New Zealanders are exempt from home ownership restrictions in neighboring Australia, where many New Zealanders live.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔$粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.