He has analysed the possible effects of the tax changes on the property market, and said Queenstown's market was incomparable in New Zealand.
He explained the overall strategy of the Budget was to rebalance the economy towards productive investment, which to some degree would mean redirecting investment away from residential property.
The tax changes have an effect on the property market in two areas: removing some of the favourable tax rules traditionally enjoyed by those investing in property, preventing depreciation on residential building; and tightening the rules to stop tax evasive behaviour.
Furthermore, there will be an investment into IRD resources to target speculators evading tax on trading gains.
"Preliminary economic and financial specialist opinion currently varies from no effect through to massive effect, so this far ... I think we can conclude that there is no consensus as to what will likely happen," Mr Snow said.
Yet, he pointed to characteristics of Queenstown's property market which sets it apart from the rest of the country, mainly due to the large proportion of market activity driven from outside its immediate geographical location.
"Analysis indicates that up to 70% of property purchasers are located outside of Queenstown, whether they be from Otago and Southland, Auckland or an international location. We know that up to 50% of purchasers can come from international locations and of note is that up to 20% of our purchasers can come from Australia," he said.
He also found Queenstown's high property prices were an important factor, stating the median house price sat around $500,000, whereas nationally it was around $380,000. About 40% of the resort's residential dwellings were not owner occupied and a high percentage were rented out.
"Typically, Queenstown residential property investors are in the higher income-earning bracket due to property affordability, and it is unlikely that changes to the depreciation rules will affect the buying power of these purchasers."
Another of the resort's market attributes he found important was that buyers of investment property in Queenstown were purchasing for their own use when they returned to New Zealand or came to Queenstown, often at the end of their careers.
"Here the motivation is ultimately personal use and not strictly investment. Investment returns in these cases are a by-product of the original intention. Many purchasers buy a property here as they just want to come here to live or holiday. Financial and economic commentators tend not to have a means of measuring this significant factor."
He suggested the market had already corrected for the effect the Budget would ultimately carry, saying the market reacted sharply to the Minister of Finance's announcements of his intended changes back in December 2009.
"If these observations hold true, then the investment sector of Queenstown's property market is unlikely to show any negative response from where we are today. It is more likely that now the changes are understood the investment segment of the market will loosen from its current stalled position and recover sales numbers.
"We will unlikely see any significant reduction in values due to tax law changes. Values of pure residential investment property are more likely to be affected by the continuing trend of investors requiring improved investment yields ahead of perceived short-term capital growth," Mr Snow said.
His view on the GST increase to 15% was that it was more likely to have an inflationary effect on the overall Queenstown property market, the additional 2.5% adding $12,500 to each $500,000 of building costs, making new housing stock more expensive, which would ultimately raise the values of existing housing stock.
The New Zealand Government's fact sheet on property tax changes states Treasury estimates the effects of the Budget on rents will be slight, with rents rising about 1.4% more than they would have over the next three to five years.
