People continue to fear foreign investment as the biggest driver of property prices even as figures show they account for very little of the total sales. The latest Property Institute Poll showed the public still ranked foreign buyers (7.3/10) as having the biggest influence on prices, ahead of developers (7/10) and local investors (6.3/10). This fear was reflected when a Harcourts real estate agent was subjected to a huge public backlash after posting about successful sales to overseas buyers. Despite the sentiment that overseas buyers would have the biggest impact on prices there was also a sense among those surveyed that prices were staying steady. "You can't artificially constrain house prices forever when you have a shortage of homes - but clearly you can do it for a while."

Source: New Zealand Herald July 06, 2017 01:07 UTC