New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday said she would seek to renegotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in Vietnam in two weeks to allow the government to ban foreign speculators from buying existing homes in New Zealand.
Ardern, who was yesterday sworn in after negotiating a New Zealand Labour Party-led coalition after a tight election result, said she had already started work on the restrictions.
“Whether it’s TPP or any other agreement, it’s making sure we have the ability to ban foreign buyers from buying existing homes in New Zealand,” Ardern told reporters in Wellington.
The 11 TPP members had set a goal of reaching broad agreement on the pact next month at an APEC meeting to be held in Da Nang, Vietnam.
New Zealand previously touted itself as a champion of free trade and was a key backer of the TPP after the US withdrew in January, but Labour has expressed concern that the TPP would stop it from banning foreigners from buying existing homes.
Foreign investors can still buy new houses and apartments.
The policy is designed to combat a politically sensitive housing crunch that has priced many New Zealanders out of the market, with prices up more than 50 percent nationally in the past decade.
New Zealand was the sixth-most popular market for Chinese investors, down from fifth last year, said Jane Lu, head of Australia and New Zealand for international property Web site Juwai.com.
Lu said foreign buyers tended to fast-forward plans to purchase overseas when new restrictions or taxes loomed.
As well as renegotiating the TPP, Ardern yesterday said that immigration numbers would be cut by up to 30,000 from record levels of more than 70,000.
Any trade and foreign ownership restrictions could hurt New Zealand’s reputation as an open economy and antagonize the likes of China.
Trade between the two countries has grown to more than NZ$20 billion (US$13.8 billion) per year, and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has called the relationship “unprecedented” in its depth.
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