New Zealand reopens: Why prime property buyers are looking south

With foreign buyers once again able to purchase high-end homes under the Active Investor Plus visa, New Zealand’s prime property market is back in play. From Auckland’s waterfront enclaves to Queenstown’s alpine retreats, Ruth Bloomfield explores why global investors are eyeing this safe-haven destination.

It is safe, undeniably gorgeous and, by global standards, pleasantly affordable. And New Zealand’s luxury property market, ring-fenced for nationals since well before the Covid-19 pandemic, is reopening its doors to foreign buyers.

Prime minister Christopher Luxton has announced that overseas-based investors who hold an Active Investor Plus (AIP) visa will be allowed to buy a home in New Zealand. The news overturns a ban on foreign owners, other than those from Australia and Singapore, which was introduced in 2018. 

This means that anyone with NZD$10 million (about £4.3m) to spend will be able to consider relocating to the Pacific Island nation, far from political uncertainties further west, where they can immerse themselves in some of the most spectacular scenery on earth and a coastline just made to explore by boat.

The news comes at a troubled time for New Zealand’s housing market, after years of strong growth driven by a lack of stock, low interest rates and a rapidly growing population. By 2022, prices had grown so fast that New Zealand was named one of the most unaffordable parts of the world to buy a home, with average prices some nine times the average income.

Since then, however, interest rates have jumped and prices have fallen sharply, with average mainstream prices in Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest and most expensive city, down 20 per cent since the peak. In Wellington, the capital, prices are down 30 per cent.

The prime market, however, appears to be weathering the storm. According to Knight Frank’s latest Prime Global Cities Index, average prices in Christchurch, the second largest city, jumped by 44 per cent in the five years to mid-2025, making it one of the world’s strongest performers.

Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington have all also recorded modest annual price growth too – at a time when only 35 cities included in the index saw any prime price growth at all.

This prime growth is not confined to big cities. Mark Harris, managing director of New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty, said median prices in Queenstown – a popular resort town on the shores of Lake Wakatipu and at the heart of the Southern Lakes region, which is known for its stunning landscapes and adventure sports – had jumped from around $1.2 million in 2021/22 to around $1.5 million in 2025. “I think this will continue to grow over the coming year at least,  as we enter a low-interest rate cycle which will continue to stimulate the market,” he says.

Acquiring an AIP residency visa means investing $5 million into the country, passing a good character test and submitting to a health check. Visa holders who want to buy a property must spend at least $5 million, a threshold that rules out more than 99 per cent of the nation’s real estate.

Johnny Sinclair, national director of residential at Bayleys, Knight Frank’s affiliate agent in New Zealand, said that since the changes in regulations were announced in September, buyers and their representatives from around the world have started to get in touch.

“We expect increased enquiries to continue while geopolitical uncertainty persists,” he says. “Buyers are coming from all over the world, motivated by various factors: a German family relocating due to the Ukrainian war, others attracted by relatively low entry levels, investors seeing no capital gains tax or stamp duty as a positive, and some drawn by New Zealand’s isolation, clean-green image, climate and lifestyle.”

Buyers could opt for a new life in Auckland, home to almost a third of New Zealand’s population, where they can enjoy white sandy beaches plus a vibrant city full of bars and restaurants. It is reputed to have the highest number of boats per capita in the world and, on that basis, is nicknamed the City of Sails.

Auckland’s prime addresses are mostly coastal enclaves like Herne Bay and Saint Marys Bay, where buyers could spend from $3.5 million on a family house or from $7 million for a property on the water.

Life is more laid back out of the cities, and prices are also lower. “The Southern Lakes, including Queenstown, offer breathtaking landscapes, lakes, skiing, hiking trails and outdoor lifestyle experiences,” says Sinclair.

In prime neighbourhoods like Remuera, Ōrākei or Mission Bay, a four-bedroom family house would sell from $3.5 million. A similar property on the waterfront would cost from  $5 million.

Harris is finding that buyers looking to relocate and live full time in New Zealand are interested in Auckland, with its good schools and transport links. Second home owners are more inclined towards the Southern Lakes. “They are looking for relatively low maintenance and somewhere they can access for several weeks each year,” says Harris. “In Auckland, it will most likely be families with kids at school or university, whereas in Queenstown it is semi-retired lifestyle seekers.” 

And he believes that the new visa arrangements will have the biggest impact in the rarefied $10 million-plus bracket. “We’ve had plenty of enquiries from existing clients now seeing a window of opportunity, and a pick-up in new enquiries coming in,” he says.

First published in the February 2026 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.