- Foreign buyers can purchase homes worth $5 million or more with an Active Investor Plus visa.
- The legislation allowing this is expected to pass by the first half of 2026.
- Significant interest has been shown, with 416 visa applications potentially bringing $2.47 billion investment.
Foreign buyers will have to wait until next year before they can get their hands on New Zealand's prestige homes.
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The Government has told OneRoof that it does not expect to pass its changes to the foreign buyer ban until the first half of 2026.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced in September that foreign buyers with a “golden visa” would soon be able to purchase homes worth $5m or more.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the bill allowing golden visa holders the right to buy a house in New Zealand was expected to pass in the first half of 2026. Photo / Mark Mitchell
“The Government has therefore decided that people with an Active Investor Plus residency visa will be allowed to buy or build one home," he said.
“The minimum value of the house that can be bought or built will be set at $5m – which equates to less than 1 per cent of New Zealand houses.”
Since 2018, only citizens, tax residents and nationals from Australia and Singapore have been able to freely buy houses in New Zealand.
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The Prime Minister told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking in August that a deal on the foreign buyer rules had been done with his Coalition partners, and that the legislation would be enacted this year.
But Finance Minister Nicola Willis confirmed to OneRoof this week that work on the legislation was still ongoing and that the amended bill was now expected to pass in the first half of 2026.
The bill is currently at second reading and its final passage depends on the House legislative programme.
Agents contacted by OneRoof said they had been told a more specific timeframe of March or April 2026.
Ray White agent Ross Hawkins said the delay of a few months gave local buyers time to get in first. Photo / Fiona Goodall
Willis said so far there had been “significant interest” in the Government’s golden visa. Immigration New Zealand had received 416 applications, potentially equating to a total minimum investment of $2.47 billion since it was improved in April.
“This is wonderful news for New Zealand jobs and incomes – it’s another tool for the Government has harnessed to bring in investment, skills and experience needed to fire up the economy,” she said.
Stuart Nash, the ex-Labour minister whose firm Nash Kelly Global helps high-net-worth foreigners navigate the “golden visa” rules, said people investing in New Zealand should be able to own a house here and that the delay was disappointing.
He fully supported the move but said he had been under the impression from what the Prime Minister said at the time of the announcement that every effort was going to be made to make sure it was in place by the end of the year.
“The message received from the Prime Minister when this was launched is quite different from the message now being given by the Minister of Finance and that’s a bit disappointing.”
Nash said anyone who wanted to sell a house to someone with a golden visa could still do a deal now but would need to add a clause in the sale and purchase agreement that made the sale conditional on the legislation passing.
However, there were still a lot of questions around the policy details, which Willis said would be released once the bill was passed.
“There just continues to be a level of uncertainty in the golden visa space with regards to the ability to purchase houses…. There’s a lack of certainty for those who are buying and those who are selling,” he added.
Auckland's Remuera is home to the most $5m-plus homes in New Zealand. Photo / Alex Burton
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty managing director Mark Harris had been hoping the changes would happen before Christmas, but said the main thing was that they did happen.
People in the US, Asia and Europe were now in the process of applying for the golden visa because it was their ticket to also buying a home here, he said.
“They are getting that done so when the rule is bought in they are ready to go.”
Walker & Co director Hamish Walker did not think delaying the bill would put anyone off, but warned it could result in a flood of transactions once the law is introduced.
New Zealand Sotheby's International Realty managing director said many in the industry wanted to see changes in before Christmas. Photo / Supplied
Ray White agent Ross Hawkins said local buyers now had a comfortable window of time to snap up a high-end home before the qualified overseas buyers started purchasing them in a few months.
Research published by OneRoof earlier this year identified just under 10,000 New Zealand residential / lifestyle properties worth $5m and above, around 7000 of which can be considered ready-to-live-in homes.
According to analysis by OneRoof's data partner, Valocity, the vast majority of these homes are in Auckland (4479) and Queenstown-Lakes (1213).
The analysis also shows just how small the prestige market is in New Zealand when it comes to sales. Last year, just 0.2% of homes sold were in the $5m-plus bracket. Even at market peak, $5m-plus sales represented just 0.4% of total sales.
Of the 31 suburbs with more than 50 homes in the higher price range, just three are outside Auckland and Queenstown-Lakes: Mount Maunganui, in Tauranga (204); Whangamata, in Thames-Coromandel (89); and Merivale, in Christchurch (54).
“All the suburbs are where you’d expect them to be and highlight just how popular the coast is in New Zealand. Most of the suburbs on the list are within touching distance of water,” Valocity senior research analyst Wayne Shum told OneRoof.
The suburb with by far the greatest concentration of $5m-plus homes is Remuera, in Auckland. The Valocity research identified 1056 high-value houses in the wealthy inner-city enclave, more than 700 than the suburb with the next highest tally, neighbouring Parnell.
Both these suburbs are prized by upper-end buyers for the luxury homes they offer, but they are also a magnet for Aucklanders looking to get their children into two of the country’s top schools, Auckland Grammar and Epsom Girls Grammar.
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