Cameron buying more Wairarapa land

REUTERS

KING OF WAIRARAPA: James Cameron is buying over 1000 hectares of land in remote South Wairarapa.

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Film giant James Cameron is adding to his Wairarapa property portfolio after being given consent to buy a small lifestyle block next to land he bought earlier this year.

Cameron, who directed Avatar and Titanic, is believed to have paid about $20 million for two large rural Wairarapa properties in January, one a 250-hectare dairy farm, the other a much larger 817ha hillside property overlooking Lake Pounui.

The latest purchase, 10ha of land adjoining the Pounui property, has just been approved by the Overseas Investment Office (OIO).

Owned by Brian Michael Furnival Lewer, Anene Cusins-Lewer and Letizea Christine Ord, the Western Lake Rd property doesn't have a house, and is mostly made up of native bush.

The purchase price is listed as confidential, but it is believed to have been on the market for about $350,000.

The OIO summary states that Cameron intends to reside in New Zealand ''indefinitely'' with his family.

''They are acquiring the land as part of a larger acquisition of land in South Wairarapa which they will use as a residence and working farm.''

Cameron has applied for residency under Immigration New Zealand's Investment Plus category - reserved for those investing more than $10m.

As such the 57-year-old director must now spend at least 44 days in New Zealand each year in the final two years of a three-year investment period.

There is no requirement to spend time here in the first year.

It is believed Cameron will work on two sequels to the film Avatar while living here.

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- © Fairfax NZ News