They are painted as the ones pushing up prices, shutting locals out, or buying homes they barely use.
But anyone who actually lives and works in Queenstown knows that is a very one-sided picture. The government’s $5million threshold ensures they won’t be competing with first-home buyers.
More than good. They are generous, engaged and often contribute more to our community than some people who live here fulltime.
Yes, I have a self-interest here as I own a real estate business in Queenstown, but I see it all the time.
Recently, I was negotiating a property deal with an American buyer. We were in the middle of talking numbers when she suddenly asked: ‘‘How can we give back to the community? Money, time, what is actually useful here?’’
That sort of question surprises people, but I hear it often.
A lot of these buyers do not just want a house. They want to be part of the place they are joining.
When they do get involved, the flow-on is massive.
A high-end build in Queenstown is not just a nice house on a hill. It keeps builders, plumbers, sparkies, landscapers, earth movers, architects, cleaners, accountants, lawyers and everyone else working.
Those wages stay here. They pay for mortgages, children’s sport, school fees and groceries. It all feeds straight back into the community.
Then there is the generosity that never makes the papers.
Look at the couple who bought the Glenorchy campground.
They did not just buy a business. They bought it and poured energy into it, and then gifted the profits back to the community.
No fuss. No big PR push. Just people choosing to give back because they believe in the place.
Or the foreign owners who donate to the arts, including the one who backed the local arts centre so it could keep growing.
They did not ask for naming rights or plaques on the wall. They simply wanted something good to continue.
These are the stories that never seem to make the headlines. It is always the rare negative example that gets held up as typical, but those situations are the exception, not the rule.
The reality is this. Foreign buyers do not take opportunities away from locals. They create them.
They bring investment, support hundreds of local jobs, keep businesses busy and often put their own money into community projects without needing to be asked twice.
Queenstown is not a place people simply buy into.
It is a place people invest into. There is a big difference.
And if we are being honest, a huge amount of the progress, resilience and opportunity in this district comes from people who were not born here but chose to make a life here.
It is time the wider conversation caught up with what is actually happening on the ground.
• Hamish Walker is a former National MP and director/salesman of Walker & Co Realty, Queenstown.
