"It will mean, for practical purposes, that foreign buyers will not be able to buy residential property unless they are either increasing the number of residences and then selling them or converting the land to another use. They will need to be able to show that this will have wider benefits to the country," Sage said.

"New Zealand and Australian citizens will be exempt from the regime."

Overseas buyers will be able to buy apartments off the plan, but they will need to onsell the property once construction is complete.

Sage said the legislation would go through a truncated select committee process.

Labour campaigned on banning overseas buyers, and in October Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed changes would be made to the Overseas Investment Act to classify residential housing as sensitive. That would stop non-residents or non-citizens from buying existing residential housing.

Yesterday the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) issued results from a survey of 173 of its residential agent members and said responses indicated that currently only 3.8 per cent of buyers are overseas.