Most overseas buyers plan to live in NZ - agent

A real estate agent who markets property to international investors says most overseas buyers are planning to move here.

A radio advertisement running in Singapore this week has been promoting the Auckland property market as a cash cow for overseas landlords.

The ad, placed by a subsidiary of a Dunedin company, says investors can take advantage of a lack of land tax and capital gains tax and reap as much as half a week's Singapore pay from New Zealanders in apartment rent.

Yi Wei Lowndes, an Auckland real estate agent who advertises properties directly to Chinese buyers online, said most of the people she dealt with were new migrants looking for a home.

She said Chinese property prices were very expensive, and the Chinese buyers she dealt with usually bought two New Zealand properties - one to live in and one as a holiday home.

But financial commentator Bernard Hickey said there was no real way of knowing that because there was no data on where new migrants were buying, how much they were buying nor how much they were paying.

"Unlike other countries, like Canada, particularly Vancouver, they have applied their research arms of government to work out what their impact on the market is and then they've applied public policy."

Mr Hickey said the Government here should do proper research to understand the extent of the problem.