How to Apply: Residential Real Estate

Your application must clearly identify the property being purchased, as well as all foreign person(s) – including individuals, companies and/or trusts – who are seeking approval. Do not include any purchasers who do not require approval, such as New Zealand citizens. You cannot obtain 'in principle' approval prior to identifying the property you wish to purchase.

Advice of the outcome of the application

In line with Government initiatives to improve efficiency and reduce the use of paper, advice to eligible applicants will be sent by email wherever possible.

The email you receive will not include a signature, but still represents official advice of the Government's decision under the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975.

Apply online

The online application system allows you to submit applications for residential real estate. You can use this system for both approval in advance of purchase and retrospective applications whether or not you believe you meet the eligibility criteria.

Using the online system ensures that you submit the correct statutory notice for the type of property you are purchasing and that your application is complete.

In order to use the online application system, you will need:

• A valid email address, so that we can send you an acknowledgement of your application and advice of the outcome.
• A browser that supports 128 bit encryption. This includes:
  • Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher
  • Any version of Safari
  • The current version of Firefox
  • The current version of Chrome.

Click the link below to go to the online application system:

Online residential real estate application

Manual applications

If you cannot, or do not wish to, submit your application online, you can print pdf forms that you can fill in by hand and submit by email, fax or post.

To see the list of manual application forms, click the link below:

Manual real estate forms