O'Rourke Denis: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Rourke Denis: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 11 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10975. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]10.DENIS O’ROURKE (NZ First) to the Minister for Building and Housing: Does he stand by his statement concerning offshore buyers pushing up Auckland house prices “The easiest trick in the book is to create a scapegoat that it’s these foreigners that are a problem”?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for Building and Housing): Yes. Blaming foreigners is not only the easiest but the oldest political trick in the book whether the issue is housing employment or crime. They are easy targets because they cannot vote and because it is easy to create misconceptions about people far away and of a different culture.Denis O’Rourke: What information did the Government use to even consider a land tax if as he claims foreign buyers are not a problem for Aucklanders trying to buy a home?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: All that occurred was that the Prime Minister was asked whether he would rule out a land tax and he said he would not rule anything out at this time.Denis O’Rourke: How can he deny that his Government has stalled for years on collecting meaningful data on foreign buyers and has now resorted to flinging fictional flimflam in the face of angry Aucklanders trying to buy a home?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Last year I tabled in the House a report from the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) based on tax returns. It showed that the level of overseas people declaring rent was about 2 to 2.5 percent of properties in New Zealand. The data that was provided by Land Information New Zealand yesterday provides comprehensive data on the tax residency status. [Interruption] I suspect that the members opposite will not be satisfied unless we blood and DNA test every person at a housing auction.Denis O’Rourke: What does the Minister say to Aucklanders turning up to house auctions to find that they are constantly outbid by foreigners with deep pockets other than just peddling more dodgy statistics?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I would draw attention to the head of one of Auckland’s largest housing companies who said on the radio this morning that at those auctions there were many people of different ethnicities but the vast vast bulk of them were New Zealand citizens and residents and it is simply the nature of the changing face of New Zealand. That is something I would hope most members of this House would welcome.Denis O’Rourke: In relation to that answer does he accept that in fact foreigners with student or temporary work visas or who are otherwise here under the Government’s liberal immigration policies are some of the people buying up Auckland houses using foreign trusts for their overseas mates and families?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I would draw the member’s attention to the tax residency status data that covered every single one of the 67000 transactions over 6 months and showed that only 2.5 percent of them had people overseas and that actually surprisingly there was a net reduction in the number of people who were tax residents overseas who owned a New Zealand property.