WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand's Finance Minister Grant Robertson said on Monday that the government would soon move to extend the so-called bright line test to five years from two currently as it seeks to crack down on foreign speculators in the housing market.
The government had said in October that a ban on foreigners buying existing homes would begin in early 2018, as it tries tackle what it has called a "housing crisis" inherited from the previous government.
"We have already begun work on addressing demand-side pressures with the introduction of the ban on overseas speculators buying residential property," Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in a speech to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce.
"We will shortly move to extend the bright line test to five years and crack down on the use of negative gearing."
(Reporting by Ana Nicolaci da Costa; Editing by Catherine Evans)
