KPMG deal advisory manager Justin Ensor said he wasn’t surprised by the findings because transactions involving Chinese and US investors tended to be large.
The study also revealed the nationality of investors was diverse with Sweden the third largest investor.
“It was broader than we expected,” he said.
"There is a widespread perception that it’s a thin market comprised of Chinese and Hong Kong investors who are buying NZ dairy land.
“In reality, though, the market has a broad base of investors.”
That perception was picked up by an international client who asked KPMG for more information on buying patterns and which led to the study.
Ensor said the type of US investors was also diverse, covering individuals and corporate, but they tended to favour buying properties of NZ$10 million or more.
“There’s not one US investor buying lots of farms. It is a multiple of investors.”
In the five transactions made by US investors in the two years under review, they topped both the sales by land area, 15,404ha (54.4%) of the 28,312ha sold to foreign investors, and by value, NZ$79m (26.5%) of the $297m worth of sale transactions.
“There’s not one US investor buying lots of farms. It is a multiple of investors.”
Justin Ensor
KPMG
In comparison there was one transaction by a Chinese investor, the purchase of 11 Synlait Farms, an area of 3305ha (11.7% of all sales) worth $63m or 21.3% of all transactions by value.
Swedish investors made six transactions covering 1674ha and worth $17.6m.
Other buyers were from the United Kingdom, 8 purchases, Canada 1, Switzerland 2, Italy 1, Luxembourg 2, Germany 4, Hong Kong 4, Ireland 1 and the Middle East 2.
Ensor said the study was limited to 18 of the 26 OIO transactions handled in the two-year period in which the price was made public.
However, the sample covered 80% of total dairy land transactions.
He believed the buying pattern also reflected the mix of nationalities buying sheep, beef, horticulture and viticulture land.
Recently, but outside the review period, an application by Shanghai Pengxin to buy the 13,800ha Lochinver Station for $88m was declined by the Government. The applicant was seeking a judicial review.
