Why Billionaires Are Snapping up Second Homes in NZ

While the rest of us may have to wait until 2022 to be allowed in to New Zealand, when the majority of the country has been vaccinated and its success rate has had a chance to prove itself, it remains a firm favourite among billionaires the world over, who have long seen it as the ultimate escape, Francesca Syz writes for The Telegraph.

“It’s not difficult to see the appeal of New Zealand for the super-rich,” says Auckland-born Susie Marquis, founder of London-based The Luxury Travel Book. “It’s absolutely beautiful, the lifestyle is relaxed, the food and wine is excellent, the standard of living is very high and there is lots of space and privacy due to the small population.”

Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Mihai Dinulescu and his girlfriend, for example, caught one of the last flights out of San Francisco to Auckland in March last year and moved into a rented a house on the Martha’s Vineyard-like Waiheke Island, a 35-minute ferry ride from the centre of Auckland. Dinulescu told Bloomberg he linked up with about ten other people in New Zealand who had done the same thing, Syz reports.

Original article by Francesca Syz, The Telegraph, April 13, 2021.