New Zealand Golden Visa Scheme Wooing Overseas Investors

New Zealand government’s Golden Visa scheme allowing rich overseas investors to buy homes worth $5 million has resulted in a tick-up in interest in the luxury property market.

New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty managing director Mark Harris said Queenstown had a busy week last week with 14 sales, one for over $10 million.

High net worth individuals (HNWIs) were increasingly “physically present in Queenstown and Auckland for viewings”, though Harris said often the ultra wealthy sent agents to do the house-hunting for them.

According to Knight Frank’s latest Prime Global Cities Index, average prices in Christchurch, the second largest city, jumped by 44% 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.