Mega landlord claims refuted

PHOTO: Andrew King. FILE

The Property Investors Federation has rebutted a Sunday Star Times article claiming there are 605,722 investment properties owned by 533,000 people or businesses in New Zealand.

Federation president Andrew King says the numbers do not appear to stack up. “Firstly, the numbers given equates to an average ownership of just 1.14 properties per owner.

FACTS: 605,722 investment properties owned by 533,000 people

“Secondly, the article claims there are 607,722 investment properties throughout the country, yet Where are the roughly 100,000 investment properties claimed in the article.”

King says the article assumes in every case where more than one property is owned, that property is classed as an investment property. However, he says it could be a holiday home, a second residence, a house provided for children to live in or he owner may be on an extended period overseas.

The full list of how many properties New Zealand MPs own

“The article then appears to count each investor’s own home as an investment property, reducing the number of people classed as owning one or two houses and inflating the number owning three to five. If this is correct then 66% of investors own one property, 26.5% own two to four and 7.5% more than five. That doesn’t demonstrate investment property owned by mega landlords.”