File photo. Christopher Luxon has so far refused to say whether National would overturn the Labour government's ban on foreign house buyers. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Will they, won't they? That's the question for the National Party about whether it would overturn the Labour government's ban on foreign house buyers.
Leader Christopher Luxon has so far refused to give an answer; but National opposed the ban when it was introduced by the newly elected Labour New Zealand First coalition government in 2018.
With the 2023 election less than two months away, Labour is ramping up the pressure, calling for National to show its hand.
This policy was controversial from the start - including Labour landing in hot water in 2015 after releasing a list of Chinese sounding names in its efforts to show the impact of foreign house buyers in Auckland.
However, once in government it got the new law over the line.
National opposed it in 2018 - claiming it was a solution in search of a problem, with MP Judith Collins describing it as "like using a hammer to try and crush a teeny-weeny little nut".
The ban on the purchase of existing homes is once again the subject of political debate, as the election nears and scrutiny of various parties' plans intensifies.
On Tuesday, Luxon was asked if a National government would overturn it.
"We'll have more to say about that with our investment policy that we'll announce in the next few weeks," he told reporters. "Clearly there's got to be restrictions on foreign buyers, we think that's appropriate, but we'll have more to say shortly."
The next day - more questions...
"Are foreign buyers back under National?" - "Again, you'll have to wait until our policy," he replied.
"Why won't you tell voters?" - "I'm very clear with you, I'm trying to tell you, we are very interested and focused on how we get this country growing," said Luxon.
"That includes having world class education, great infrastructure, really good technology, skills, all that good stuff, and foreign investment as a piece of that, but of course, we will balance New Zealand's interests with our access to capital."
He went on to say there needed to be "restrictions and protections around any foreign investment in New Zealand".
"I've been very clear about that, I continue to be clear about it, what I'm saying is I'm trying to balance New Zealand's interests and making sure they are always protected and always there will be restrictions around foreign investment, but also giving us access to foreign capital."
Before the law change, 2.6 percent of house sales were to foreign buyers. That has steadily declined to sit at 0.4 percent as of the end of last year.
David Parker Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
When Labour took office in 2017, senior Labour minister David Parker said 20 percent of homes in central Auckland and 10 percent of homes in the Queenstown region were being purchased by overseas buyers - claiming it was no coincidence they were also the two most expensive markets in the country.
On Wednesday, he said: "Now, reverse that [rule] and you'll see more of New Zealanders' homes being sold to foreign buyers, they'll be able to out-compete New Zealand buyers, and whether it's a beautiful lakeside section or it's a modest home in a suburb, more of those houses will be sold to overseas people and New Zealanders won't be able to own their own homes."
National "should be really drilled" on whether they intended to reverse the ban, Parker said.
"Their obvious plan is to reinstate it. They are a right-wing government. They think that foreign capital should be able to outbid New Zealanders for the purchase of New Zealand homes - they are wrong.
"New Zealand is overwhelmingly opposed to that; they absolutely liked the fact that we dealt to that as an incoming government in our first 100 days," he said.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the government "wanted to make sure New Zealand buyers were front of the queue for buying New Zealand properties, having foreign speculators coming in and snapping up New Zealand houses isn't going to be in New Zealand's best long term interests".
"I think [Luxon] should tell New Zealanders what he's going to do about that," he said.
Greens co-leader Marama Davidson warned against a return to the past, saying her party "championed" the 2018 legislation "to prioritise New Zealand ownership of Aotearoa, of our assets".
"So it would be really disappointing to see Luxon cosy up to his offshore billionaire mates again."
A party whose position may prove to be pivotal is New Zealand First - coming up in polls and a potential partner for National.
A staunch supporter of the 2018 law change, its leader Winston Peters says the first priority for home ownership should be for New Zealanders; "not allowing a gross distortion of the market by deep-pocketed foreigners who don't care about struggling Kiwis and who just want profits and an asset bolthole if things go wrong in their own country".