Three questions decide whether anything else matters: can you own it, does the register hold, and is your deposit protected. Here are the answers for New Zealand, each with the law or source it rests on. The answers are written for EU and EEA citizens; where rules differ for other nationals, the ownership answer says so. As of September 2026.
The core answers
Can you buy property here as an EU citizen?
Residential property is in principle closed to non-residents. Exceptions exist for new developments and, since 2026, for holders of the Active Investor Plus visa from NZ$5 million.
Legal basis: Overseas Investment Amendment Act 2018
Is your deposit protected by law?
The deposit is held in the agent's trust account; no statutory developer escrow for off-plan could be verified
Source: settled.govt.nz · 2026
Residence
No residence through property purchase; conversely, since 2026 holders of the AIP investor visa may buy residential property from NZ$5 million
Source: bellgully.com
First thing to check
- Whether the purchase is allowed at all. Without an exemption the purchase cannot be approved.
All 24 dimensions
Scale 0 to 100, higher is better. Each value shows where it comes from: tied to a published index, own research with a source on file, or approximated from comparable countries.
Law and register
| Dimension | Score | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Property rights | 86 | Index |
| Register | 96 | Index |
| Deposit protection | 35 | Research |
| Rule of law | 89 | Index |
| Freedom from corruption | 87 | Index |
| Political stability | 89 | Index |
Money and market
| Dimension | Score | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase costs | 84 | Index |
| Tax burden | 14 | Index |
| Entry price | 45 | Index |
| Rental yield | 35 | Research |
| Price development | 5 | Index |
| Demand pipeline | 36 | Index |
Residence and access
| Dimension | Score | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Residence | 30 | Research |
| Exit | 70 | Index |
| Currency | 52 | Index |
| Accessibility | 10 | Research |
Place and building stock
| Dimension | Score | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Climate | 95 | Index |
| Natural hazards | 42 | Index |
| Utilities | 85 | Index |
| Build quality | 92 | Research |
| Construction cost | 1 | Research |
| Quality of life | 86 | Index |
| Healthcare | 63 | Index |
Researched individually
These entries do not come from an index but from research for this country. The source is given with each.
Residence
No residence through property purchase; conversely, holders of the AIP (Active Investor Plus) investor visa have been permitted since 2026 to buy residential property from NZ$5 million
Source: bellgully.com · 2025
Deposit protection
The deposit is held in the agent's trust account; no statutory developer escrow for off-plan purchases can be evidenced
Source: settled.govt.nz · 2026
Accessibility
18,489 km great-circle distance from Munich
Source: Grosskreisentfernung Muenchen-Hauptstadt · 2026
Build quality
BQCI 15/15 (WB Doing Business 2020) + WGI Government Effectiveness 87,3 (2024), Gewicht 35/65
Source: archive.doingbusiness.org · 2019
Place and building materials
What to check in New Zealand
Derived from the four weakest dimensions of this country - statistically, that is where buyers lose money.
- Construction cost. The real construction cost per square metre if you build or renovate yourself.
- Price development. Whether price growth was real or only nominal - with inflation taken out.
- Accessibility. How often you can realistically get there - and whether a site inspection is possible in one day.
- Tax burden. The ongoing tax burden on ownership and rental income, and whether a double taxation treaty applies.
Developers and projects in New Zealand
The developer index records 14 projects and 5 developers in New Zealand without rating them, each entry with source and retrieval date. An excerpt:
| Project | Place | Developer | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Clearing | Amberley | UWC Limited (Tochter von The Wellington Company) | on sale |
| The Lifestyle Villas (The Clearing) | Amberley | The Wellington Company | on sale |
| Manaaki | Auckland | Ockham Residential | completed |
| Station M | Auckland | Ockham Residential | under construction |
| The Greenhouse | Auckland | Ockham Residential | completed |
| The Kubrick | Auckland | Ockham Residential | planned |
| Taft Street Brooklyn | Brooklyn | The Wellington Company | planned |
| Madras | Christchurch | The Wellington Company | completed |
| One Central | Christchurch | Fletcher Living | on sale |
| Laings Road | Lower Hutt | The Wellington Company | completed |
| Hauwai | Mount Cook | The Wellington Company | completed |
| Toi | Point Chevalier | Ockham Residential | completed |
Individual project pages are currently in German; they contain the recorded data, the source and the retrieval date.
All 14 projects and 5 developers in New Zealand
What the guide cannot do
A country can look good in all three columns and the specific property can still be a total loss. The reverse is also true: in a country with a weak register, a cleanly titled plot can be entirely unproblematic. The guide tells you what the environment looks like. Whether this one property holds up is decided by the review.