About the Bill
This omnibus Bill is one of two Bills introduced as a package to replace the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill (No 2). The purpose of this Bill is to ensure that risks posed by foreign investment can be managed effectively while better supporting productive overseas investment by reducing the regulatory burden of the screening process.
Property Council’s position
Property Council commends the Government on proposing the introduction of the Bill as it aims to ensure that risks posed by overseas investment can be managed effectively. In particular, we support measures to cut unnecessary red tape and streamline the process for investing in New Zealand (e.g. no requirement for screening lower-risk transactions and for repeat investors of a good character; simplified and clarified counterfactual assessment).
Property Council is encouraged by the changes the Government has made in relation to the overseas investment for the commercial property sector. However, more could be done in the residential property space, especially given the overarching Government’s intention of building more housing quickly and at scale. For example, in addition to Kiwibuild, Build-to-Rent can add to the housing stock that otherwise would not be built given prevailing market conditions. It could also be an additional factor which would help achieve a number of the Government’s housing goals, including improving rental affordability and quality of rental supply. However, New Zealand needs to make the Build-to-Rent sector more attractive to overseas investors as well as domestic investors to help build these types of developments faster and at a greater scale.
The submission provides further details on what other actions the Government should consider to support development of the residential sector in New Zealand to ensure the success of the overarching Overseas Investment Reform.