Twyford Phil: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTwyford Phil: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 11 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10973. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]8.PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū) to the Minister for Building and Housing: Does he stand by his statement in relation to data showing that 1694 houses were sold into foreign ownership excluding any bought via trusts or companies that “the numbers are so small”?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for Building and Housing): Yes particularly compared with the member’s 40 percent buyer claims based on racial profiling of people with Chinese-sounding names.Phil Twyford: Why should any offshore speculators be allowed to buy New Zealand homes?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The member continually uses the word “speculators”. My challenge to him is to go to any auction and to differentiate between those New Zealanders who are genuinely wanting to invest and those who pretend they are speculators.Phil Twyford: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That was a very very straight question and he completely failed to address it.Mr SPEAKER: No he did not. The member asked why any overseas speculator should be allowed to buy and the Minister said the difficulty is in defining who is buying at a particular auction etc. That addresses the question. It may not be to the satisfaction of the member but it certainly addresses the question that was asked.Phil Twyford: How many sales to foreign speculators does he think represents a large enough problem to warrant action?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I draw the member’s attention to the data. During the first 6 months of properties that were sold—Dr David Clark: Answer the question.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Give me a chance mate. In respect of the sales data there were 1692 buyers from overseas tax residents and there were 1695 sellers. There was a net reduction of three in terms of the number of properties owned in New Zealand by persons that were tax residents overseas. That does not sound to me like a crisis.Phil Twyford: Is he aware that when the exceptions the Government used to manipulate the figures are removed the raw data actually shows that 8.8 percent—or 15905 properties—are being sold to offshore speculators a year and does he think that that is too small?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: No the member’s claims are about as accurate as those on Chinese-sounding names. We have 100 percent data on every one of the transactions over that 6-month period that were purchased and settled within those 6 months. We have tax residency status for every single one of those. The number is 2.5 percent and that includes New Zealand residents and citizens who are tax residents overseas but bought properties in New Zealand.Phil Twyford: I seek leave to table calculations from my office showing that the actual number of offshore buyers is nearly 16000 a year based on that Minister’s data—Mr SPEAKER: Order!Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: No I need to deal with this one first. I am certainly not putting the leave. I read out a particular Speaker’s ruling only about 10 minutes ago. I was hoping the member might have heard it. If it is information that is prepared by the research units or by your office it is not authentic enough to be of information to members.Phil Twyford: Why did he exclude businesses and trusts from the calculation of foreign buyers in the market in the time period that was used?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The member is incorrect. The tax residency status applies to every single transaction. If the property is owned by a trust if the company is owned by a company if it is owned by an individual the tax residency status is noted. It is actually quite cautious. A number of property transactions involve a number of companies or a number of trusts or a number of individuals. If any one of those are overseas tax-registered the transaction is listed as overseas tax resident.