Active Investor Plus visa and buying a home
A plain map of the order things happen when a visa application and a NZ home purchase overlap.
- Sort the visa, tax and legal advisers first. The property purchase comes after the visa and investment steps.
- Expect source-of-funds checks from banks and lawyers. Gather the paperwork early.
- You can look at homes while the visa is processing, but check with your advisers before you commit to buy.
- Allow a buffer for large overseas transfers to clear before settlement day.What does Settlement mean?Settlement day is the day you pay the balance of the purchase price and the property becomes yours. settled.govt.nz (Te Kāhui Kāinga Ora / REA): Settling on settlement day
- Check insurance cover for the specific property before you go unconditional.
Check the details. Check what the visa allows, and whether you can buy a home, with Immigration NZ or a licensed immigration adviser, then your lawyer.
Facts we checked
- IRD says the bright-line period is 2 years for property sold on or after 1 July 2024.IRD · accessed 2026-10-29
- The visa page lists new residential developments as an acceptable Balanced category investment. Existing residential property is not listed there.Immigration NZ · accessed 2026-10-29
Official pages
Shortened from a Berry article first written 2026-04-22. Figures we could not check against a public source were taken out. This is general information, not advice.