NZ's PM finalising details of foreign home ownership ban

Wellington

NEW Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday she would like to finalise the details of a ban on foreigners buying established homes before a key trade deal meeting next week.

The new Labour-led government wants to ban foreign buyers from purchasing existing homes in the country as it tackles what it says is a housing crisis left unresolved by the previous government. The ban is at odds with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, to which New Zealand belongs, and Ms Ardern has said she would seek to renegotiate the deal to allow for the ban.