More Chinese buying homes in quake-battered NZ region: real estate firm

Chinese investors and migrants are increasingly buying up homes in New Zealand's South Island region of Canterbury, where the economy is booming as it rebuilds from the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, a major real estate firm said on Monday.

Bayleys Canterbury said it had identified a growing trend in sales data, and the company itself had been involved in the sale of 24 homes and "a large number" of land sections to Chinese buyers over the past six months.

The company had taken a portfolio of properties to the Luxury Property Showcase exhibition in Shanghai, China, in December last year, where many inquiries focused on the education opportunities in the regional seat of Christchurch, Bayleys Canterbury general manager Pete Whalan said in a statement.

"Many of those expo attendees we spoke to in Shanghai were aware of the economic boom currently being experienced in the wider Canterbury region as part of the earthquake rebuild, and they are keen to be part of that from an investment perspective given the strong demand for rental accommodation," Whalan said.

Canterbury was shaken by a magnitude 7.1 quake on Sept. 4, 2010, followed by thousands more tremors in succeeding years, including a magnitude 6.3 quake that killed 185 people in Christchurch in February 2011.