Live data from Hacker News

New Zealand Passes Law to Crack Down on Foreign Home Buyers

bloomberg.com

31–40 of 178 posts

Re: New Zealand Passes Law to Crack Down on Foreign Home Buyers

#31
post #18

Sounds like pulling up the ladder after all the people who bought the houses already climbed it. What about all the people who have already purchased and are just holding onto an empty house for speculative reasons?

Are you suggesting the government steal their property?

No, but it could implement hefty property tax on properties owned by non-residents.

Re: New Zealand Passes Law to Crack Down on Foreign Home Buyers

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they own a house, they are paying taxes, so they do have significant skin in the game. They pay property taxes despite not using the local schools or most other city services. As far as not allowing housing as a speculative financial investment, there are some significant unintended consequences there.

The tenant covers all the taxes and costs through his rent.

So the property is being occupied, which I don't think they have a problem with. The issue is wealthy investors are coming in, buying up property at above market rate, and then letting it sit empty and driving up the price higher since there is less sellers on the market.

Re: New Zealand Passes Law to Crack Down on Foreign Home Buyers

#33

Good move. More cities need to adopt this. There is a flood of foreign capital into major western cities that is hurting those economies. And a lot of denial that this is happening.

Local owns house they bought 20 years ago for $50k

Local sells to foreign buyer for $500k

Local has lots of money

Re: New Zealand Passes Law to Crack Down on Foreign Home Buyers

#34
post #18

Sounds like pulling up the ladder after all the people who bought the houses already climbed it. What about all the people who have already purchased and are just holding onto an empty house for speculative reasons?

Are you suggesting the government steal their property?

[deleted]

Re: New Zealand Passes Law to Crack Down on Foreign Home Buyers

#35
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you suggesting the government steal their property?

No, but it could implement hefty property tax on properties owned by non-residents.

Just introduce the property tax, and either increase services or decrease local taxes

Re: New Zealand Passes Law to Crack Down on Foreign Home Buyers

#36
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tenant covers all the taxes and costs through his rent.

So the property is being occupied, which I don't think they have a problem with. The issue is wealthy investors are coming in, buying up property at above market rate, and then letting it sit empty and driving up the price higher since there is less sellers on the market.

Doesn't matter if it's rented or not, it drives the price up either way.

Re: New Zealand Passes Law to Crack Down on Foreign Home Buyers

#37
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are not placing all blame on foreign soeculative real estate investors, but are assigning some blame, which i think is fair. Many countries require some form of either citizenship or residence in order to qualify as a real estate buyer.

> Many countries require some form of either citizenship or residence in order to qualify as a real estate buyer. ...like China.

Or Switzerland.

Re: New Zealand Passes Law to Crack Down on Foreign Home Buyers

#38

Good move. More cities need to adopt this. There is a flood of foreign capital into major western cities that is hurting those economies. And a lot of denial that this is happening.

Local owns house they bought 20 years ago for $50k Local sells to foreign buyer for $500k Local has lots of money

Foreign buyer has to sell for significantly higher to profit..or just squat on it...not so great for local people looking for a house...

Re: New Zealand Passes Law to Crack Down on Foreign Home Buyers

#39

Good move. More cities need to adopt this. There is a flood of foreign capital into major western cities that is hurting those economies. And a lot of denial that this is happening.

Local owns house they bought 20 years ago for $50k Local sells to foreign buyer for $500k Local has lots of money

Local still needs to live somewhere

Local buys an equivalent house to the one they sold for $500k + transaction fees, which scale based on the price of the house

Local has less money than when they started

Re: New Zealand Passes Law to Crack Down on Foreign Home Buyers

#40

Good move. More cities need to adopt this. There is a flood of foreign capital into major western cities that is hurting those economies. And a lot of denial that this is happening.

Local owns house they bought 20 years ago for $50k Local sells to foreign buyer for $500k Local has lots of money

Local kids can't buy house and is renting forever at unreasonable price. The world is not just about giving everyone the opportunity to become rich. Just making a decent living for most is a nice objective.
Post reply on HN