LINZ releases latest property data

LINZ releases latest property data

Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) latest property data shows that in October to December 2016, 2 percent of property transfers involved overseas tax resident buyers and 3 percent involved overseas tax resident sellers

Released each quarter, the figures are gathered by LINZ for property tax purposes. They are not a register of foreign ownership.

“We saw a slight drop in the number of overseas tax resident buyers. They were involved in 2 percent of transfers in October to December, compared to the 3 percent we saw in the first three quarters of 2016,” says LINZ Deputy Chief Executive Russell Turner.

“Overseas tax resident sellers were involved in 3 percent of transfers in October to December. This is also similar to the first three quarters of 2016.”

Of the remaining transfers over October-December:

• 58 percent of transfers involved buyers who have only New Zealand tax residency. For the July to September quarter this was similar at 60 percent.

• 40 percent involved buyers who did not need to provide tax information – the majority of these were New Zealand citizens or residents who are buying their main home. This compares to 37 percent in the July to September quarter.

These figures include trusts and companies.

Auckland results

“For Auckland transfers, 4 percent involved overseas tax resident buyers and 3 percent had overseas tax resident sellers. For the July to September quarter this was 4 percent for both buyers and sellers.”

Transfers involving a home on the land

Mr Turner says that to help find out more about property transfers in New Zealand, buyers and sellers are also asked to provide information about their citizenship or visa status.

“This shows that for properties where there’s a home on the land, approximately 693 transfers (2 percent) involved buyers who were not New Zealand citizens, residents nor held visas that allowed them to live here. Approximately 34446 (79 percent) involved buyers who were New Zealand citizens, residents or visa holders, and approximately 8559 (20 percent) involved trust companies or businesses.”

LINZ has also improved the way this information is gathered so that the next report, covering January to March 2017, will show transfers involving work or student visa holders.

Read the latest report on property transfers and tax residency on the LINZ website.

Key figures 2016

Note:

LINZ also asked home buyers and sellers whether they or their immediate families were work or student visa holders and, if so, if they intended to live on their land.

The results to this question are inaccurate and should not be used as 48% of those who answered as if they held a work or student visa, also claimed the main home exemption (that is only available to New Zealand citizens and residents).

We have made improvements to the way we gather this information, and will have precise information on transfers involving work or student visa holders in the report covering January to March 2017.

For transparency, we have shared the results we do have as well as more information on this in the appendix of the latest report.

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