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🇿🇦 South Africa /Economy & Trade

New Zealand to let wealthy migrants invest in build-to-rent housing

From Daily Maverick · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Official statement New plan
  • New Zealand will allow wealthy visa applicants to count investments in approved funds backing build-to-rent housing from December.
  • The policy aims to attract foreign capital for long-term rental homes as the country faces record net migration and weak economic growth.
  • The government has also lowered the minimum investment for the visa’s Growth category, shortened the investment period and eased some eligibility requirements.

New Zealand will let wealthy visa applicants count investments in approved funds supporting build-to-rent housing under changes taking effect in December. The government is seeking foreign capital to help finance new long-term rental homes.

Applicants in the Growth category will not be allowed to invest directly in build-to-rent projects. Their money must pass through approved managed funds, and investors and their family members cannot live in developments financed by their investment.

The centre-right National Party-led government has progressively loosened the Active Investor Plus visa since relaunching it in April 2025. It cut the Growth category’s minimum investment to NZ$5 million from NZ$15 million, shortened the required investment period to three years from four and expanded the range of eligible investments.

The changes come as the South Pacific nation of 5 million people experiences record net migration and weak economic growth. Other adjustments include eased English-language requirements for some applicants and expanded options for philanthropic investment.

About this summary

Originally published by Daily Maverick in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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