Purchasing Property

[VixenandFox]

This may be a question that you have been asked time and time before but I don't know where to start looking for the answers. My partner, myself and family of two children are considering moving to NZ for a better life. Can we purchase property straight away or do we have to rent for a while. I know some countries you can only purchase property there when you have been living in rented accommodation for a minimum of three years. Does this apply to NZ?

Thank you in advance!

[MotherBear]

Yes, you can buy property without having to go through the rigmarole of getting PR etc. There are certain restrictions, I believe, regarding how much land you can buy without PR but it's still a sizeable plot - up to 2,000 sq. mtrs. maybe. I've read somewhere that they don't like you to buy up the best places i.e. by the sea/river/lake but perhaps that only refered to plots of land. Here's a link that sets out to answer some queries about housing for expats. They are trying to sell their services, of course, but there's still some useful information on there. You have to wander about a bit to get all the gen and it cuts out the waffle.

http://www.real-estate-nz.com/real-e.../nzpopulation/

Here's another link trying to encourage you to take on a lawyer, but it poses lots of questions which could act as a check-list for you and give you some idea of what you should be looking at when buying a property.

http://www.lawyers.org.nz/general/la...rty.htm#issues