The latest quarterly data released by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) shows that over 2016, 5,466 property transfers - 2.6% of the total of 207,597 in 2016 - involved overseas tax resident buyers (including trusts, companies and businesses as well as individuals.
In the October to December 2016 quarter, 2% of property transfers involved overseas tax resident buyers and 3% involved overseas tax resident sellers.
The figures are gathered by LINZ for property tax purposes, and are not a register of foreign ownership.
LINZ Deputy Chief Executive Russell Turner says there was a slight drop in the number of overseas resident tax buyers in the December quarter.
"They were involved in 2% of transfers in October to December, compared to the 3% we saw in the first three quarters of 2016," he says.
LINZ says 58% of transfers in the December 2016 quarter involved buyers who have only New Zealand tax residency. This was similar at 60% for the September quarter.
Buyers who did not need to provide tax information accounted for 40% of transfers in the December quarter. The majority of these were New Zealand citizens or residents who were buying their main home. This compared to 37% in the September quarter.
Transfers for 2016 quarter ending
| Measure | 31-Mar | 30-Jun | 30-Sep | 31-Dec | Total |
| Overall transfers | 45,114 | 57,678 | 53,991 | 50,814 | 207,597 |
| Involving overseas tax resident sellers | 1158 | 1749 | 1431 | 1128 | 5466 |
| Involving overseas tax resident buyers | 1062 | 1560 | 1503 | 1371 | 5496 |
| Auckland transfers involving overseas tax resident buyers | 474 | 900 | 648 | 519 | 2541 |