Actually, a friend of mine was looking for a flat (a rented house) about 3 years ago. He and his girlfriend were waiting to interview with a real estate/rental

Actually, a friend of mine was looking for a flat (a rented house) about 3 years ago. He and his girlfriend were waiting to interview with a real estate/rental management agency in Dunedin, when a (probably) Chinese man walked in with an interpreter, walked over to the rental board, pointed out half a dozen houses and whipped out his cheque book. I can't recall just how much I was told the offers were, but they were significantly over the listed price of each house. The cheques were signed and handed over (presumably to make a firm offer) and they left. So, at least one wealthy Chinese family are buying up in the smaller towns. (Perhaps they had a forecast that suggested property values would go up significantly. Who knows?) It's worth noting that Dunedin's permanent population is around 75-80,000, but as it's a university town it can get as large as 120k during semester. Housing stock are small, old, cold, drafty, damp houses, and many student dwellings are literally falling apart but the rents per room can be more than $100/week (where the student loan or allowance approaches $200/week). Most landlords who own student housing expect to make a lot of money, and a number of don't care about the conditions the tenants live in. If you're curious, go to Google Maps and look up Hyde Street, Dunedin. Or Castle Street North. A friend of mine had me go and look at a flat for her, while she was out of town. It was literally a woodshed that had been reclad and had a window put in, on Castle Street North.