and your ability to secure business loans, etc

NZ one of few Asia-Pacific nations with no restrictions on overseas buyers

Anyway, I don't think you actually have to evidence NZ citizenship when purchasing something like a…

Um… are you sure? I have a 2002 and a 2004 example in front of me, and I cant see any expiry date, and I’ve just read…

I wish I had your problems.

True, not racism, but it is rather redolent of a certain kind of prejudice common in Chinese communities. Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan vs. Mainland, Shanghai vs. everybody, Beijing vs. everybody especially Shanghai (mere merchants who wouldn't recognise culture if it grew in the back of their fridge)…

I keep seeing this, like giving your passport to your lawyer along with the million pieces of paper you have to provide to complete a property purchase is such an outrageous idea.…

I have always complained when my Westmere house valuation goes up by above average amounts. Because I plan to live here for a very long time, all the increased value does is increase my rates.

__ Local and New Zealand-born Chinese know that recent Chinese migrants are buying up land and properties to enrich themselves later. It's a common topic among established Kiwis of…

Yeah that's a can 'o worms. It sounds like it would be well worth a visit.

I was thinking far more in terms of how many Chinese people refer to their own compatriots and co-immigrants. No need for "house [anything]".

It may be worth noting, despite the risk of sparking a major political row, that Macau and Hong Kong are undisputed Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China and Taiwan (big risk....) has never declared independence from China – in…

*Cuthbert Calculus – think Flight 714 when he's introduced to Carreidas.

"Nothing brings down property prices faster than a good old-fashioned gang war." – Avery Carrington, GTA Vice City

In before the usual blubbery suspects start throwing round words like "house (insert minority here)".

"Residents from China's Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, Taiwan and overseas Chinese should also be in possession of proper certificates when buying a house. "

_

This law…

Article 139 requires that Chinese investors be treated no less favourably then investors of any other country.

And from the article I linked to before:

Trade law specialist Daniel Kalderimis of Chapman Tripp told the Herald that on an initial reading, the policy could breach the most-favoured-nation…

I've seen comment that this is incorrect – that earlier FTAs are exempt and only later-negotiated ones have to be matched. Someone may have a link?

Let's be honest with ourselves about this. Residential property investment is…

And Raymond Huo's comments absolutely do not surprise me.

But does John Armstrong actually understand the policy? My interpretation was that banning non-resident foreigners from buying…

The purchase of any real ppty financed from funds raised off shore -…

Because either:

– he was not well-briefed or competent enough to frame around that utterly-predictable angle when offered by the interviewer, or

– it was politically advantageous to not put up a fight and thereby cleverly allow that…

Thanks to a post from Whale Oil (or should that be blubberhole Damien ;) ) I can see that Tony Alexander from BNZ does – for a couple of months…

Yeah, doubt it. If you are "cashed up" you can pretty much already buy your way into living here. And if they wanted to buy without living here they already could.

True that is easier to rent somewhere like Ponsonby…

Ponsonby is a poor example. It used to be a Pacific Island and Maori area, at least when I was a boy living there. I went to Ponsonby Primary, and Ponsonby Intermediate. They were 50% brown people, in the 70s. We moved to Herne…

Except it doesn't. Or it hasn't. Rents in Auckland are such that for a long time you can rent in Ponsonby, as most of my younger studenty friends…

Ah, yes, I was a touch preoccupied, but that's the kind of information I was thinking I need to find to complete what I was trying to say. It's worth noting, though, that at least here in Beijing foreigners have it easy compared…

If they're genuinely forced out of their suburb, that would suck. It would be like being unable to pay the rent and having to move, as happens to poor people all the time, except that they don't get…

Talk to Emma Hart about this re closing of community schools in Christchurch…

Which is to say yes, *I* am not particularly wedded to New Windsor, but a family who actually have spent long enough in…

Didn't realise that. What a loss.

I do feel the need to point out that the Centre for Housing Research (CHRANZ) was closed down in 2011 after being unable to secure any more funding from the National led…

I suggest that the intention is to sell them for a profit in the end, and that is based on an anticipation that they will eventually be tenanted…

sez Wiki

CGT operates by having net gains treated as taxable income in the tax year an asset is sold or otherwise disposed of.

This applies to investment property. Although I'm not sure…

Foreigners who intend to buy a house in Beijing need a certificate issued by the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau to prove that they…

Not every time, but the value of the money could easily be a lot more than the value of the house, to me. My community is my address book anyway,…

...Not sure it's about ease of credit here so much as the same demand that's driving China's real estate market to the moon and back. China's rich want something to do with their money, the stock markets look even more like casinos than other stock…

So you'd just move to a completely different community every time you could realise a profit from your family home? Sounds like pretty…

If they're not going to live in it, they're going to rent it out. If no one will rent it, it has no value, unless someone else will…

In my case it would describe it very well. To me, 800K is a hell of a lot of money, and a house is just a house.

No, demand's source in this case is "people who want to buy property" regardless of whether they want to live in it. Removing foreign…

If you had a family and bought a…

Our government appears to believe so, and has for a while. Pakeha culture is not well expressed.

I'm in favour of anything that emphasise that houses are houses first and investments second. Tax laws shouldn't…

It is very hard to accept, admittedly. I struggle periodically to convince my wife that we'd be a whole lot better off if we just sold our place and rented for a few years while…

Once Were Battlers?

Funny thing, there's a lot of people who don't think like that.…

A wealth tax of 2% on net assets over a million, rising to 10% at 100mln would be…

From data compiled by Tony Alexander (pdf). That’s the percentage of houses sold which go to non-residents. Of those, about half say they intend to reside in NZ at a later point (how many do is unknown).

That I certainly agree with. We should still, at the very least, have the political independence that enables us to…

The question is whether restricting foreign ownership does actually reduce…

And as for those levelling accusations of racism, glass houses and stones come to mind. Or is it only racism if fat wallets happen to be involved?

[ http://www.stephenfranks.co.nz/house-buying-ban/ ]

If that's the case then it would be a non-reciprocated requirement (this may be common in FTAs, I don't know). Hadn't heard about it elsewhere, you'd…

What about increasing the mortgage deposit percentage requirements for second properties (ie not the family home) to 40%? It…

Now there's a problem right there.

Which, if the asset is a rental property, is a form of Capital Gains Tax. And you'd want to exempt the family home, or see plenty of Aucklanders,…

Yeah, but assuming even a little bit of the problem is supply/demand – and we’re constantly told we don’t have the amount of housing stock we need, reducing demand, even by a few…

I've thought for a long time that the biggest overall factor is very low interest rates. But that doesn't explain why Auckland…

Which of course we already have but don't enforce very often....

Yup. And New Zealanders pay for those benefits in taxes etc. It isn't as though we are preventing foreign investment in NZ (as other countries do) and I can't see any reason for…

I think over-leveraged investors as well as first home buyers suffer from increased interest rates, but only one loses their (actual) home. Likewise…

My take is that "cheap" money readily available is the driver on prices, turn the tap off or increase the interest rates and the market will change.

Unfortunately the low…

The restrictions in Australia apply to established houses. Non-citizens can still buy new houses. The policy rationale is:

that foreign investment in Residential Real Estate should increase Australia's housing stock. That is, the…

I think you'd still be a citizen though, right? And if you already own the home, I don't think you are forced to sell it...

It's always quite popular with the public whenever the CGT policy gets polled – but MPs, their senior staff and senior political journalists all tend to have most of their wealth…