$5m-plus foreign house-buyers allowed in from Friday; how NZ’s Westfield malls are doing - Property Insider
Foreign house-buyer rules change on Friday allowing those who qualify for the visa and pay more than $5 million to get a slice of New Zealand. But not all land will be up for grabs. Plus Scentre Group’s results have revealed how well New Zealand’s five Westfield malls are doing. All this and more in this week’s Property Insider.
From this Friday, wealthy foreigners get more leeway to buy New Zealand residential properties for $5 million-plus.
That is due to Overseas Investment Act changes introduced by the coalition Government.
Most foreigners are still barred from buying much of Waiheke Island and Aotea Great Barrier other than smaller sections that are set back from the coast.
Generally, foreigners must apply to buy here; it’s not an automatic right or clearance without state involvement.
The changes are due to a relaxation of the foreign house-buyer ban which came in from around 2018. Since then only Australians and Singaporeans have been allowed to buy property.
But now those with “golden visas” can apply to buy.
Immigration Minister Erica Stanford expects 100 to 150 successful applicants in the first year.
Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand, which administers the act, provided an in-depth briefing to me on this last Monday.
Real estate agents and lawyers have beefed up, ready for the change to the golden visa rules.
Linz wants people to be informed, to know what the new regime is and to abide by it.
They don’t want to be getting applications which are non-compliant, and nor is that in the real estate agents’ or lawyers’ interests.
The Linz presentation was titled A new pathway for investor visa holders and explained clearly what the March 6 changes mean.
“Certain investor visa holders will be allowed to buy certain residential land for more than $5m,” the first slide said.
Investor visa holders are foreigners who hold a visa granted under one of these categories:
A third slide showed a pie chart of what land is eligible: the message was loud and clear. It is residential land only.
READ MORE: Latest ‘golden visa’ numbers
That slide said what was not eligible under the changes from Friday was two other types of land:
Otherwise sensitive land, which foreigners will be banned from buying, was defined as:
District valuation rolls define what is considered to be residential or lifestyle property and what is sensitive land.
That is often due to its size and type and what it is next to, such as the sea, a river or a lake.
Land that is sensitive for any reason other than simply being residential land is called otherwise sensitive land.
The Linz presentation also spelled out the rules about a dwelling on the property a foreigner is applying to buy.
Either the property must have a dwelling on it already at the time they apply to buy or a dwelling must in the future be built on the land the foreigner wants to buy.
Linz will be checking on land that didn’t have a house on it at the time a purchase was approved.
Then there was more detail about what was meant by $5m. You’d think that wouldn’t need explaining but evidently it does.
Under the heading “must exceed $5m”, Linz indicated it’s not quite as straightforward as you may think.
For example, just as a couple of instances - gold bars can’t be sitting on the kitchen bench or be included in the house price.
Nor can a Lamborghini be in the garage and included in the purchase price.
Forget parking the fancy Sealegs under the carport either and including that in the $5m.
The consent will allow an investor visa holder to:
How can the $5m+ property be used?
There are no restrictions under the changes on how it can be used.
It could be a holiday home because there are no time limits on how long it must be occupied for annually.
When will Linz say no?
If:
Timeframes
It is envisaged that some applications could be processed faster than the 15 working day statutory assessment timeframe.
The Government expects 80% of all applications to be processed within five working days.
Why are Waiheke and Aotea Great Barrier barred?
Buyers can only buy land under the investor visa pathway that is residential land, and not sensitive for any other reason.
Reasons why land could be sensitive include:
Waiheke and Aotea Great Barrier Islands are both in the list of 16 islands.
Land of more than 4000sq m or around 1 acre is sensitive and therefore cannot be bought under the investor visa pathway.
Both islands will also have land that adjoins the seabed or foreshore, potentially excluding some smaller areas of land as well.
Queenstown, it seems, is less complicated.
The wider Queenstown Lakes area doesn’t include any seabed or foreshore and has no offshore islands. This means there are fewer reasons why land in Queenstown would be sensitive.
Numbers out?
It seems likely that data out in August could be the first to reveal numbers of applicants.
The foreign-buyer figures are due to be released by Linz quarterly.
The US-Iran conflict could encourage some wealthy foreigners to consider New Zealand bolt-holes.
Units above our Westfield?
Australasia’s biggest mall owner plans 16,000 new apartments above its Westfield-branded malls.
Scentre Group has won consent to build 4100 units at Westfield Hornsby in Sydney and Westfield Belconnen in Canberra, it revealed as part of an ASX announcement last week.
It is also pursuing approvals at six malls, including Westfield locations in Brisbane at Carindale and Mount Gravatt, at Warringah Mall in Sydney, at Woden in Canberra and Knox and Southland in Melbourne.
Plans to redevelop Sydney’s Westfield Bondi are for a A$240m six-level lifestyle, entertainment and dining destination.
Nothing was said in last week’s announcement about whether any new apartments would be built above the five malls in this country.
The retail giant also delivered its full-year results for the year to December 31, 2025. Net statutory profit was almost A$1.8b, up 69.4%, after booking in portfolio gains.
Five malls valued
Scentre has A$1.4b of New Zealand property with 51% ownership of Westfields in five locations, listed here with the latest valuations:
The other 49% is owned by Singapore’s GIC.
Elliott Rusanow, group chief executive officer, talked about Scentre’s big residential push, although no New Zealand malls were specifically named.
Scentre was one of the largest landholders in the most densely populated areas across metropolitan centres in Australia and New Zealand, Rusanow said.
“Our Westfield destinations are located on more than 670ha of land, close to major transport hubs and where millions of people live and work.
“During the year, the group lodged planning proposals at a further six Westfield destinations with the potential to deliver 16,100 dwellings. We are focused on generating greater economic activity in and around our destinations through better use of our strategically located land,” he said.
In New Zealand, Westfield clocked 44 million customer visits to its five malls in the December year.
That is up from 43.5m customer visits in the prior year.
Here, the Scentre malls total 280,000sq m of shops on 54ha of land holdings.
How five malls performed
Annual sales and customer-visit numbers are revealed in the full-year 2024 and 2025 reports.
Those numbers indicate performance.
Albany had moving annual total sales of A$455.9m in the year to December 2025, up on the previous year’s A$442.3m. Customer visits rose from 8.3m to 8.4m.
Manukau sales dropped from A$310.7m to A$309.7m yet annual visits rose from 6.7m to 6.8m.
The giant Westfield Newmarket outclassed the other four, enjoying annual sales of A$667.6m in the December 2025 year, up from A$662.6m. Customer visits were static at 12.7m in both years.
The second-largest, Westfield Riccarton, had a big annual sales uplift from A$596m to A$622.7m, reflecting the more robust Christchurch economy. Customer visits increased from 10.1m to 10.6m in the two years.
Westfield St Lukes’ sales dropped from A$333.1m to A$330m and customer visits were also static at 5.6m.
Winton update post-result
Winton CEO Chris Meehan talked to me last week about the half-year result to December 31, 2025.
There’s a lot of good news with the Ayrburn Classic festival of motoring on last month and the new 400-seat Wynyard Quarter restaurant which opened last Friday. They are called Bravo Go! and Bravo!
“It’s on the boardwalk, so it’s on the Cracker Bay Marina.”
That revenue drop just shows how difficult the market is right now.
Asked about revenue falling from $81.1m to $32.4m, Meehan said the residential land business delivered most lots in the second half-year, not the first.
Asked why residential lot sales fell from 90 to just 14 in the latest period, Meehan said it was due to seasonality also.
“We don’t deliver them in the first half because we can’t build them over winter.”
On February 10, an expert panel issued a draft decision approving Winton’s new Sunfield project in South Auckland.
The company is reviewing that and will decide what to do shortly.
“If approval is granted, it is Winton’s intention to commence development immediately,” the company said.
No revenue or sales figures are reported on from Ayburn.
A fast-track application had been made for the screen hub there, he said.
“The outcome of the screen hub fast-track application will determine the outcome of plans for the retirement village at Ayrburn because one impacts the other, as they have some shared services facilities.”
Northbrook Wānaka is the most advanced retirement village for Winton Land.
About 50 homes are finished. Another 35 are under construction now and the wellness facility is operating.
“Slow and steady wins the race,” Meehan said.
“We’re not pushing on with things unless we have confidence in the market.
“We’re paying down our debt, so we’ll have none by the end of June. We’re about to pay down about $120m. Don’t expose yourself when the market is difficult.”
Precinct update
Precinct Properties CEO Scott Pritchard also briefed me after last week’s half-year.
I wanted to know the numbers for his planned twin tower project near the waterfront on the Downtown Carpark site.
He indicated a strong appetite for new A-grade offices and envisages 70,000sq m in commercial space alone.
For the hotel, 200 to 250 rooms are being planned, and 140 new apartment units are envisaged.
Some retail and amenity spaces will be provided on the ground floor.
But he reminded me how keen he is for Precinct to build new student accommodation, reiterating that 1600 units are planned or being built by the company.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 26 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.