Some real estate agents say expat interest in New Zealand’s housing market has dropped since the international vaccine roll-out and the US rejection of Donald Trump as president.
Ray White Remuera real estate agent Steve Koerber, who works in Auckland’s sought-after double grammar zone suburbs, thinks expat demand is not as strong as it was at the start of Covid crisis last year.
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“I wouldn’t say [the change has been] drastic but I suppose we had this initial rush; people getting excited that they’d come back. I had an open home with someone on Sunday saying they were looking for their daughter who was coming back from Singapore, so they’re still out there,” Koerber told OneRoof.
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“It’s a bit anecdotal but maybe a 25 per cent drop I would think.”
Koerber said the drop is probably the result of a combination of factors, including people feeling safer and hanging in overseas because they can see things are shifting finally, but also because the initial rush of people have now looked at the market back home, gotten their heads around the pricing and have sent their relatives out to look at houses for them.
“Some of them have purchased and some haven’t.”
Gary Alway, owner of LJ Hooker in the Coromandel beach town of Waihi, said views of local listings from America had fallen since Joe Biden won the US election last year.
“We’re still getting inquiries from all over the world but when Trump was in and they were in the middle of the Covid situation, US inquiries were massive.”
Waihi Beach agent Gary Always says the town has a lot to offer expats. Photo / Getty Images
Some of those were from Kiwi expats living in America but many were from US citizens, he said.
“There was an article a while ago on how many people were applying for visas from the US, you know, Googling ‘how do I get out of America and go to New Zealand?’
“It’s the same sort of thing - people were going ‘how do I get out of this place?’’”
Now Trump is out, Alway surmises that those previously looking to exit the country might be happier to stay put. “And now the problem is you get here and you can’t get out of New Zealand (because the border is closed). You’re buggered whichever way you go.”
Alway said Kiwi expats who do come home would be fantastic for communities like his because of the new skills they would bring back.
“If they’ve been working for Silicon Valley in America, or wherever it is - and because they’re Kiwis they’re good, hard workers - those companies are probably going to say ‘well, can you set up in New Zealand for us?’ and they go ‘I don’t need to live in Auckland, there’s fibre in Waihi Beach.’”
For Charlie Brendon-Cook, who sells luxury real estate in the Bay of Islands, that’s not the case. He is getting just as much demand, if not more, from overseas buyers.
“It’s not something I’m experiencing. We’re talking expats, obviously, because the properties we sell mainly are not the sort of properties that can be bought (by foreign) overseas-buyers-wise, apart from the Australian and the Singapore buyers,” he said.
“We’re seeing quite a solid influx of qualified, keen, cashed-up New Zealanders looking to get a holding in New Zealand and come back to their roots.”
Agents says overseas interest in the Bay of Islands has remained strong. Photo / Getty Images
A lot of people are inquiring from the United States with a fair few from Europe as well, he said.
Even with vaccines rolling out, the pandemic has brought to the forefront these things can happen and that island nations like New Zealand are positioned to be potentially be safer than countries in Europe which have soft borders.
And Michael Boulgaris, who sells luxury homes in Auckland and beyond, doesn’t think expat demand has slowed either. He gets 100 emails a day from Kiwis mainly living in Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, though not many from the United States, and expects many will come.
“Less than 10 per cent have arrived of who I’ve been communicating with for a year,” he said.
“Finding a house here is actually the bottom of the list. It’s selling their own house, taking their children out of school, dealing with the family, the family pet, their businesses, their staff, their investment properties.
“The list just goes on and on because their whole world is ensconced somewhere else.”
That means it takes a little longer to get organised – but coming back is definitely still on their agenda. “There’s still a huge world crisis going on.”
