Changes to the Overseas Investment Act 2005 (“the Act”) came into force on 6 March 2026, creating a simplified pathway for holders of an Active Investor Plus Visa (or a residence visa which was issued under either of the now-closed Investor 1 or Investor 2 categories) to obtain consent from the Overseas Investment Office (“OIO”) to purchase residential property in New Zealand where the purchase price is more than $5 million.
Eligible Property
As a first step, the property must be categorised as ‘residential’ or ‘lifestyle’ for the purposes of the relevant District Valuation Roll. Importantly, the land must not be “otherwise sensitive land” as defined in the Act. This includes (for example):
- Rural land larger than five hectares;
- Land adjoining a seabed or foreshore that is larger than 0.2 hectares (noting this also includes any properties built over a wharf); or
- Land larger than 0.4 hectares on certain islands, including Waiheke Island and Great Barrier Island.
If the land you are looking at purchasing has a size limit, and the land includes common property (tenancy in common or unit title ownership), the entire area of the underlying/common property will be measured for the purposes of determining whether it is “otherwise sensitive land”.
There must be at least one dwelling on the property, although this can be built by the investor after the property has been bought. While the visa holder does not need to live in the dwelling, it must be in good enough condition that a family or household could reasonably live in it.
$5 million requirement
The investor must spend at least $5 million on the property. There are two options for this:
- Purchase an eligible property for over $5 million; or
- Purchase an eligible property for less than $5 million, and build a dwelling so that the total cost of the property exceeds $5 million. Where consent is obtained based on this option, the investor must build (or make significant progress on) the dwelling within three years. The investor’s progress in building the dwelling will be monitored by Land Information New Zealand.
Purchase price
It is important to note that, for the purposes of the $5 million threshold, only the part of the purchase price that relates to the land and fixtures is relevant – the price of any chattels included in the purchase cannot be taken into account.
To make this clear in an application for consent, the agreement for sale and purchase should include an allocation of the price between the land, the building(s)/dwelling(s) and the depreciable property (which will include the chattels). The allocation must be reasonable – for example, if the transaction includes the purchase of window coverings, appliances or furniture within in a dwelling, then at least part of the purchase price must be allocated towards those chattels.
The purchase price must also be a genuine market price and must not include any additional items or benefits to inflate the price over $5 million.
Overseas Investment Office Consent Application
An application received by the OIO must be decided within 15 working days, although may often be assessed faster than this. However, it is still important to include a condition in the agreement for sale and purchase to allow for this timeframe. The OIO has made it clear that there is no ability for qualifying investor visa holders to invest in property if they have not obtained consent.
The application fees vary depending on whether there is already a dwelling on the property when it is bought ($2,040) or if it is bare land ($3,500). While unlikely, an additional fee of $83,700 may be payable if the transaction is considered a possible risk to New Zealand’s national interest and a national interest assessment is required to be completed. The OIO will contact the applicant if this is required.
For more information on this new pathway, or for assistance with an application for consent or an application for an Active Investor Plus Visa, contact our property and immigration experts at [email protected].
