Golden visa holders go house hunting

Sunday, 15 March 2026

A Korean citizen this week became the first foreign investor to seek sign-off to buy a $5m plus house in Auckland. So who are our golden visa immigrants? And should residency be for sale? Nikki Macdonald reports.

Misa Matsuzaki’s road to a golden visa began almost three decades ago.

She’d founded a company to export used Japanese cars, and New Zealand was a key market. Coming from a patriarchal society, she appreciated that no-one here cared that she was a woman.

“Whatever the gender I have, as long as I’m offering a good product, I get business.”

She went on to become the youngest woman in Japan to take a company public, before founding another business, matching blue collar foreign workers to Japanese jobs.

Then three years ago, her then 15-year-old daughter Kiren craved a change from central Tokyo. Whanganui Girls’ College certainly provided that. For the three years Kiren studied there, Matsuzaki saw how New Zealand’s education system made space for individuality.

Later, she met a bunch of start-up founders and venture capitalists and realised New Zealand wasn’t just “the sheep country”.

So when the rules changed for the Active Investor Plus (AIP) visa in April 2025, she and her husband - also a company founder - applied under the balanced category, which requires a $10m investment over five years. They received their five-year residency visa in September.

Matsuzaki, 55, plans to spend more than the minimum 105 days here, and has already visited for the NZ Golf Open and SailGP. But the family is still contemplating any longer-term plans.

“I'm in my life transition…In case we wanted to choose to live out of the country, we think New Zealand is the best place. So we just want to have an option for that.”

Matsuzaki is one of 589 applicants for the AIP - dubbed the golden visa - since 1 April 2025. Of those, 448 have been approved in principle. More than a third (219) are from the United States and 98 are from China.

And on March 6, the doors opened to them buying (or building) houses worth more than $5m.

While Matsuzaki has no immediate plans to buy property here, others have already gone shopping. Real estate agents in Queenstown and Auckland are reporting spiking interest, with some contracts already signed, conditional on the rule change.

In the week since the change, two investors have applied for consent to buy - a Korean wanting to buy in Auckland, and an American eyeing up a property in Hawke’s Bay. And with the Iran war driving a surge in the search for a southern safe harbour, the numbers will only increase.

What does $5 million-plus buy you?

Follow the lakefront, past #thatWānakatree and turn left. Nestled beneath the hills, in the exclusive Far Horizon Park subdivision, is 8 Foxglove Heights.

At 740m² of stone and cedar, its two storeys of gabled glass frontage open up views to that promised horizon - a parade of snow-tipped sentinels and the lake they watch over.

It’s cathedral meets opulent ski lodge; wealth meets wellness. Four en-suite bedrooms, steam room, sauna and spa with a separate entrance and shrink-wrapped towels. Plus a self-contained two-bedroom apartment, and wooden doors with a maker’s mark burned in. This is what $13.5m (+GST) buys you on the Wānaka side of the Southern Lakes.

It’s one of 556 $5m-plus properties nationwide listed on realestate.co.nz. The majority (379) are in Auckland. Central Otago is the next biggest hotspot, with 85 multi-million-dollar mansions, followed by Bay of Plenty, with 29.

Level up to $10m-plus and there are just 144 properties nationwide.

The property website recorded around 450 internationally-based searchers for residential properties over $5m from 2 March to 9 March.

It’s not open slather, though. Rural properties bigger than five hectares are out.

And there are special rules for sensitive land, which includes properties adjoining beaches, and lakes, and on islands such as Auckland wealth-magnet Waiheke. Anything that includes seabed and foreshore is ruled out completely.

Of the five most-viewed $5m plus homes since the rule change, one is in Wānaka - a lakefront stunner, three are in Auckland, and one is in the Wellington blue-chip suburb of Khandallah.

Designed as either a huge home or visitor lodge, or a combination, 8 Foxglove is already owned by immigrants. They’re Kiwis now, and live nearby.

This was their sustainable, see-through wine wall, imported-Italian-roof-tiles labour of love, says Aspire Realty director, Craig Myles.

Now it’s ready for its next recruits. Myles has already shown through two AIP applicants, and had another scheduled.

“There’s certainly interest from that quarter, but it’s not a floodgates,” he says.

They’re mostly Americans and Europeans still going through the process. While Myles has previously had wealthy Chinese wanting to buy, he hasn’t seen many in the golden visa category.

He argues enabling investor visa holders to buy homes makes sense, and will allow them to spend more time here.

“I could never work out what the logic was of allowing people to bring their money here, but not buy somewhere to live… New Zealand has been a bit of an outlier, in terms of our welcoming of people to buy property.”

Although houses are in short supply in the Southern Lakes district, which has the country’s highest rents and house prices, Myles doesn’t think the foreign buyer change will make it harder for buyers lower down the market.

“It just doesn’t work like that.”

Phil Gilchrist of Prime Real Estate has two Wānaka properties marketed as “enquiries over $5,000,000” - a high-end rural retreat and a bulldozer-beckoning house on a hectare of land with expansive views. He says the $5m+ tag is not a ploy to attract AIP investors.

While there have been reports of private jets stacking up at Queenstown airport in the rush to secure a visa and a slice of New Zealand, Gilchrist is sceptical.

“I think there's a bit of hype to that. We really haven't seen it on our side of the hill anyway. There have been foreign buyers…but there's not droves of people turning up…Our main clients are Kiwis.”

Queenstown has no shortage of refuges for the rich.

A seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom mansion on the Lake Hayes waterfront is likely to fetch closer to $10m than $5m, but might fall foul of the sensitive land rules, which restrict lakefront land to 0.4 hectares. Beachfront land (that doesn’t include seabed and foreshore) is capped at 0.2 hectares.

Zoom out for water views, though, and there are plenty of options to nab luxury properties within the rules.

Mark Harris, managing director of Sotheby’s International Realty, who works across Queenstown and Auckland, has seen a spike in online and in-person inquiries from overseas in the months leading up to the AIP buyer ban reversal.

Even before the rule change, the proportion of Southern Lakes buyers coming from overseas doubled from 6.5% in January-February 2025, to 13% this year, Harris says. They would likely be Australians and Singaporeans, who could already buy non-sensitive land without Overseas Investment Office permission.

In the Southern Lakes, foreign investors want houses close to the airport, privacy, views, a decent section and good access to ski fields and golf courses, Harris says.

In Auckland, potential properties are likely to be close to the CBD and schools, with sea views.

He’s had keen buyers from the US, Switzerland, Germany, Hong Kong and mainland China, and has already agreed a couple of contracts conditional on the rule relaxation. One European buyer has three children and wants to move here.

“The public may be thinking that these people are coming in and buying property from underneath Kiwis, but most of the ones we deal with want to be integrated into New Zealand, and be part of the community. So I think it’s a positive.”

Harris points to local facilities made possible by foreigners falling in love with the place and investing, such as Queenstown’s marina, Cromwell’s motorsport track and Matakauri, Azur and Blanket Bay luxury lodges.

Offshore buyers are also house-hunting up north.

Caleb Paterson, of Auckland’s Paterson Luxury, has fielded mostly American interest. They come from industries as diverse as construction and hospitality, but the biggest budgets belong to tech entrepreneurs, he says.

He has two families flying out at the end of the month, who are looking in the $5-$7 million range, and considering both central Auckland to North Shore, and Queenstown or Arrowtown.

“They’re not leaving the country without buying a property.”

Another two families are coming shopping with $15m-$20m to spend. They’re keen on Herne Bay and central Auckland.

Paterson thinks some sensational spots will be ruled out by the size, waterfront, and Waiheke Island restrictions. However, the rule change should be a win for baby boomer Kiwis who own high-end properties that have previously struggled for buyers.

“They’ve got all this equity tied up in their property, and we haven’t had the market for them to transact those assets… that’ll free up that wealth from the New Zealand families to then flow through their own families and their local economy.”

Whether the war with Iran will lead to a surge in foreign investor interest is yet to be seen. Immigration New Zealand deputy chief operating officer, Jeannie Melville, says there’s been a slight spike in web traffic from war-affected countries to the ‘Live in New Zealand’ section of its website, but no measurable increase in AIP inquiries, either since the war or since the property-buying rule change.

“It is too early to say whether the current Middle East conflict will translate into increased demand for New Zealand visas,” Melville says.

But Paterson says before war broke out he was mostly contacted by people well into an AIP application, or who had already secured a visa. In the past two weeks, however, he’s seen a shift to frightened foreigners yet to even begin the process.

“They’re just starting to see what’s available, and looking at New Zealand as a safe option. Basically going as far away as you can from a nuke.”

Harris has also seen a spike in war-flight interest.

“We’ve had an uptick in traffic flow from the UAE quite dramatically in the last two weeks. It’s playing its part.”

Residency for sale?

News that US tech billionaire Peter Thiel was granted Kiwi citizenship after spending just 12 days in the country sparked outrage, and criticism that the right to be a Kiwi should not be for sale.

The AIP rules require growth category investors to spend just 21 days in the country over their three-year investment period, while balanced category visa holders must spend at least 105 days here over five years.

The 589 applications so far represent potential investment of $3.47b.

Former Queenstown mayor Jim Boult recently hosted about 20 AIP applicants invited here for the NZ Golf Open. From what he saw, he’s adamant they’re not just billionaires banking a bolt-hole in case the world implodes.

The group, which included Matsuzaki, came from the United States, China, Japan and India and had diverse backgrounds. One had made his money from early childhood learning centres, one was a senior executive of an energy company and one had a massive retail business.

“They want to not only invest their money, but also their talent and their knowledge.”

Boult points to the contributions of other imports to the region during his time as mayor. South African music producer Mutt Lange has spent millions clearing wilding pine pests, and Seattle couple Paul and Debbi Brainerd bought a run-down motor camp at Glenorchy and transformed it into a global beacon of sustainable tourism.

“I think it’s wonderful. It brings enthusiastic, interested people here, bringing capital and knowledge, and they're terribly keen to be part of our country. And if they're coming for the right reasons, and bringing knowledge and money into the system - I'm for it.”

Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub says it makes sense to allow golden visa holders to buy property here.

“You can't ask people to come here and invest a lot of money here and live here and tell them you can't buy a house. It feels really inconsistent and incoherent.”

And banning foreign buyers didn’t deflate the property market, so he doubts allowing some to buy houses well outside most Kiwi budgets will affect property prices.

“Maybe in Queenstown, for really rich people…We had a massive raging housing market through Covid, when no foreigners were here, either immigrants or foreign buyers. We don’t need any help from anybody else to have a housing boom.”

But whether New Zealand residency should be for sale is a different - but important - question, Eaqub says.

“I don't have an answer to that because I haven't seen any evaluation done…We can't keep on rolling out these kinds of policies hoping that it works, without any evidence that it provides benefits to New Zealanders.

“We shouldn't just be a backdoor entry for people to have a bolt-hole. It makes no sense if we're not getting a benefit out of it.”

While some immigrant investors genuinely want to invest in New Zealand, similar international schemes have shown others keep their money in the country for the minimum period to get a visa, then pull it straight out again, Eaqub says.

Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (CAFCA) spokesman, Murray Horton, says history suggests AIP visa holders are unlikely to transform New Zealand’s economy.

“We have heard all this before,” he says. “Two words: Kim Dotcom …. people of his ilk were touted as being the equivalent salvation back then.

“Peter Thiel - what has he contributed to the New Zealand economy? We’ve never seen him since. He’s too busy rallying the tech bro billionaires to back Donald Trump.”

However, allowing immigrant investors to buy houses is “peanuts” compared to the influence of foreigners owning land and important assets like forestry, Wellington’s failing sewerage plant, and Heinz Wattie’s three closing factories, Horton says.

“This is where the real foreign control of New Zealand is - in business, in manufacturing… there are much bigger fish to fry than somebody looking for a $5 million house.”

Matsuzaki says some of her funds are committed for at least 10 years - double the minimum. And the AIP applicants she has met have all been successful in their industries at home, and have chosen New Zealand for a reason.

“We get permanent residency, and in exchange we pay. But I think it’s not just about the money. It’s bringing the knowledge and network of these people…I think I can also act as a bridge for New Zealand and Japan.”