Quote Originally Posted by Aaron View Post
It was never changed to 2 years it came in at 2 years and has changed to 5 years. The reason it came into being was probably vote grabbing as people became jealous of house flippers making heaps of untaxed dollars because existing rules were pretty weak.
Ok, it was INTRODUCED at 2 years and CHANGED to 5 years. Being too critical are we? All the people I know that bought real estate in Auckland 10-20 years ago have made bank. Not a single i've known bought with the intention to sell within 2 or 5 years. Instead they kept buying more houses and if you ask me, owning NZ real estate has turned out a very good strategy for retirement planning. As i've pointed out, there's a huge difference in tax treatment between those that choose to invest with ie Kiwi Saver vs those that bought Auckland properties.