32 homes, 14 American buyers: what New Zealand's $5m home pathway data shows
Seven months after New Zealand let investor visa holders buy one home worth more than $5 million, there is enough official data to see the shape of this market. Set the Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) consent figures beside Immigration New Zealand's (INZ) visa numbers and a clear pattern emerges. Demand is there, Americans are leading it, and the constraint is the supply of homes that qualify.
Key takeaways
32 homes have been bought through the $5m+ pathway since it opened on 6 March 2026. None have been rejected and one application was withdrawn (LINZ, updated 30 Sep).
US applicants hold 14 of the 32 consents (44%), against 32% of Active Investor Plus (AIP) visa applications.
INZ has approved 496 AIP applications, with around $5.15 billion committed or in the pipeline. That works out to roughly one consented home for every 15 approved visas.
Agents say the bottleneck isn't demand. It's qualifying stock, and offshore advisers who don't yet know the home rule exists.
No party has proposed easing the sensitive-land rules that exclude much of the top-end waterfront and lifestyle market.
The numbers
LINZ's dashboard shows 32 consents granted under the $5m+ house pathway. Auckland has 19, Otago 10, and Hawke's Bay, Southland and Waikato one each. In early July the count was 20 (OneRoof, 7 Jul), so 12 more consents came through in about three months.
On the visa side, INZ's statistics (updated 25 Sep) show 949 AIP applications covering 3,092 people between 1 April 2025 and 24 September 2026. Of those, 496 are approved, 256 are approved in principle and 148 are in progress. Committed capital stands at $2.88 billion, with another $2.26 billion in the pipeline (around $5.15 billion in total).
Set the 32 homes against 496 approved visas and you get roughly one home for every 15. Treat that as a loose guide: Investor 1 and 2 holders can also use the pathway, many approvals are recent, and not every investor wants a $5m home.
Americans lead both tables
The US is the largest source of AIP applications: 305 applications covering 924 people, ahead of China (180), Hong Kong (121) and Germany (61). The home data has the same order with a stronger US lead: US 14, China 6, Germany 3, and one each from nine other countries.
US buyers held seven of the 20 consents in early July, so their number has doubled. Interest reaches the very top of the market: one Herne Bay home's tender earlier this year included an offer from a US-based family who had completed the entire Overseas Investment Office (OIO) process before deciding they weren't ready to move countries (OneRoof, 6 Oct).
Why so few? Stock, not demand
NZ Sotheby's International Realty's Patrick McAteer told OneRoof on 6 October that the low uptake of homes by AIP buyers reflects the lack of stock. Buying Queenstown founder Jo Eddington, just back from a month-long US and European roadshow, said many of the buyers' advisers she met "were unaware their clients could now buy residential property in New Zealand". She added: "For some families, the ability to own a significant home in New Zealand can be the trigger to explore residency in the first place."
Being worth more than $5m is only the first filter. Under LINZ guidance, a home must also:
Be residential or lifestyle land. The District Valuation Roll category must start with R or L.
Not be "otherwise sensitive". That rules out land beside a beach, lake, river or reserve, and land on an island. LINZ's sensitive-land tables also catch non-urban land over 5ha and land over 0.4ha on Waiheke.
Pass the common-property test. LINZ's investor visa guidance treats each owner of shared land as holding the whole common block. In a gated estate, that can push a modest lot over the 5ha threshold.
These filters remove much of the waterfront and lifestyle stock offshore buyers want most, and small title details decide it. OneRoof reported in May that one waterfront purchase was approved because a thin strip of reserve separated the title from the beach (OneRoof, 23 May).
Will the rules loosen?
Nothing currently proposed suggests they will. When Cabinet introduced the 2025 Overseas Investment Act reforms, its paper promised "no changes to the consent requirements or pathways for investments in residential and lifestyle land, to meet the commitment to retain the foreign buyers ban" (Cabinet paper, released 15 May 2026). A March 2026 ministerial directive tells the OIO to consent qualifying-visa transactions quickly, but doesn't change which land qualifies. A Queenstown agent said in May he would seek a change to the gated-estate treatment; we have found no published response.
The US tour
Pathways to New Zealand says it will travel to the US with Invest New Zealand this month (Pathways NZ, 1 Oct). The stops are New York (13–15 Oct), Denver/Boulder (16 Oct), Los Angeles/Santa Barbara (19–20 Oct), San Francisco (20–21 Oct) and Palo Alto (22 Oct). It is a timely chance to put the home pathway in front of the advisers Eddington describes.
For owners of $5m+ homes: what qualifying buyers look for
Before you list, check:
Land category. Confirm the R or L code on the District Valuation Roll.
Title boundary. Does the title run to the water, or is there a reserve or walkway in between?
Land area and common property. Count any shared or undivided land, especially in rural or gated settings.
Price evidence above $5m. Chattels don't count towards the threshold, so agree the split early.
Consent-ready terms. Agreements must be conditional on OIO consent. LINZ generally decides within five working days but suggests allowing about 20 in the condition. Agree any auction or tender terms in advance.
Have your lawyer (and a surveyor, if boundaries are unclear) confirm eligibility first. If you are considering a sale, Valta can place your home with qualified buyers.
FAQ
How many homes have been bought under New Zealand's $5m+ pathway?
32 consents as at 30 September 2026, according to LINZ, with none rejected and one withdrawn.
Who is buying?
US applicants hold 14 of the 32 consents, followed by China (6) and Germany (3).
Can AIP buyers purchase waterfront homes?
Often not. Land beside a beach, lake, river or reserve is generally excluded, though some homes separated from the water by a reserve strip have qualified.
Are the sensitive-land rules likely to change before the election?
We have found no current government or party proposal to ease them.
Following the AIP market
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This article is general information only, not legal, tax or immigration advice.