infonews.co.nz
INDEX
LEGAL

Stats NZ Publishes Property Transfer Statistics – Sheds Light on Buyers' Tax Residency

Friday 27 July 2018, 5:58PM

By Beckie Wright

414 views

Stats NZ recently published statistics on property transfers for the March 2018 quarter – differentiating the tax obligations and tax residency of the people and companies involved.  The report revealed that just over 3 per cent of home transfers were to people who didn’t hold New Zealand citizenship or resident visas.

In the quarter of March 2018, nearly 33,000 homes changed hands in New Zealand. According to Stats NZ, 3.3 percent of these properties went to non-domestic entities, rising from 2.9 per cent in the December quarter of last year.

“This increase was driven by a fall in the total number of transfers, and a small rise in the number of transfers to overseas people,” said property statistics manager Malissa McKenzie.

“The proportion of overseas sellers also increased in the March quarter, to reach 1.5 percent, after staying steady at 1.3 percent for a year.”

Queenstown-Lakes district and Auckland experienced the highest proportion of home transfers who weren’t New Zealand citizens or resident-visa holders, the former at 9.7 per cent of all home transfers and the latter at 7.3 per cent.

It’s important to note, however, that the tax residency status for 41 percent of this quarter’s transfers was unknown. This is due to a special rule that exempts people who transfer their main home from providing tax details.

Stats NZ will continue to release regular quarterly reports regarding property transfers and tax residency information, having taken over analysis and publication of these statistics from Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).

Stats NZ’s comprehensive report improvements include a new data time series, the separation of resident-visa holders from New Zealand citizens, and details of home transfers by location in New Zealand.

If you’re planning on buying or selling your home, contact the property conveyancing experts at HomeLegal today at 04 891 2188, or visit the website for more information at https://homelegal.co.nz/.