IMF adds voice to dissent around foreign buyer ban bill

IMF adds voice to dissent around foreign buyer ban bill
Nikki Mandow
By Nikki Mandow April 18 (BusinessDesk) - Building industry figures lobbying to change the government’s mind over the foreign buyer ban have been buoyed by the International Monetary Fund adding its voice to the cause. IMF officials, in New Zealand this week, called the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill “discriminatory” and hinted that banning foreign investment in housing was an over-reaction to a problem that might not even exist. “Foreign buyers seem to have played a minor role in New Zealand’s residential real estate market recent...