ARE AUSTRALIANS BUYING?
Overseas buyers accounted for three per cent of home transfers in 2018, falling to two per cent in 2019 as the foreign buyer ban took effect, and have hovered around 0.40 per cent ever since. The most recent data runs to 2024, so it does not yet capture any shift following the Australian budget changes.
Migration data tells a similar story. Net Australian arrivals to New Zealand briefly turned positive around 2020, then reversed sharply. New Zealand is now losing around 28,800 people net to Australia annually, a figure back in line with what has characterised most of the past two decades.
New Zealand also has an election coming. Labour is heading into the 2026 vote with a proposal to introduce a capital gains tax on investment property sales. The tax settings Australian investors are currently eyeing may not be permanent, and any longterm decision should factor that in.
Source: SNZ, Ray White Economics
Two budgets moved in opposite directions, creating a property contrast that is hard to ignore. The price gap is real, the exchange rate advantage is at a decade high, and Australians face fewer regulatory barriers to buying here than almost any other offshore buyer group.
The transaction data is yet to reflect the renewed attention New Zealand is receiving from Australian investors. The opportunity is real- but so is the uncertainty.
RAY WHITE NOW NEW ZEALAND | 13