Sotheby’s Data Shows UAE’s Rising Interest in Kiwi Homes

The jump in interest was measured by the number of visitors to the New Zealand Sotheby’s website

Interest in Kiwi homes from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has increased sharply ​ in the weeks following the National Party’s proposal to lift the foreign buyers ban on high-end homes, compared to the same period last year, according to data from luxury real estate agency New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty. The jump in interest was measured by the number of visitors to the New Zealand Sotheby’s website, which showed buyers in the Emirates increased from fewer than 50 ​ in September last year​, to more than 1300​ during the same period this year.

National unveiled its plan on August 30 to allow foreign home buyers to purchase homes over $2 million if elected, so this September period was picked in order to measure the impact of National’s announcement. New Zealand Sotheby's International Realty managing director Mark Harris said he was encouraged overseas traffic had seen a 37% increase​.

 “Notable standouts include the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the UAE,” he said. For Hong Kong and Indonesia, visitor numbers to NZ Sotheby’s website jumped 609%​ to 940 visitors and 891%​ to 664 visitors respectively in September. Americans made up the largest number of visits to the website, and had a comparatively small increase of 79%​ year-on-year, taking the number of website visitors from the United States to 4530. Singaporeans made up the second most visitors, with volumes jumping 260%​ to 1568 visitors, despite citizens from Singapore already being exempt from the foreign buyers ban.

However, NZ Sotheby’s data paints a different picture to that of Google and TradeMe, which both showed no significant increase in interest from foreign buyers since the National Party announced its plan, which may suggest the wealthy prefer to use more specialist avenues to scope out property purchases.