Live data from Hacker News

Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods

nltimes.nl

51–60 of 598 posts

Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods

#51

So investors buy the homes then rent them out? What’s the problem? In some asian markets investors buy homes then sit on them unused for years. That’s a problem.

The problem is that it gets harder and harder for normal people to own anything (build up wealth), while building wealth is the best retirement startegy there is. I myself, for example, live in a city where owning the place I live in is just barely getting in reach for me, although I am in the top 30% income bracket of my country. I therefore have to put my savings into the stock market, which is at an all time high.…

> The problem is that it gets harder and harder for normal people to own anything (build up wealth),

In the US, it is easier than ever. Open a free account online at a number of brokerages, and buy some broad market low cost equity index ETF.

The problem is government subsidies for real estate. Get rid of federal taxpayer guaranteed mortgages (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, ginnie mae). Get rid of 1031 exchanges. Let the markets set the interest rate and do its own risk calculations.

See similar price distortions due to federal taxpayer guaranteed student loans.

All of this is unlikely, however, since the US and many other societies have baked in burgeoning economic growth for decades to come in their previous decades’ spending. Therefore, to avoid defaulting on these assumptions, the societies will keep inflating currency to keep the ruse going as long as possible.

Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods

#52
post #45
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should middle income families be able to buy property in some of the wealthiest and most expensive cities in the world? There is suburbs for that.

Suburbs? What do you think we are, Americans?

I'm Danish and we call it "forstad". It's pretty much the same as a suburb.

https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forstad

Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods

#53
post #4

This is the only right way to deal with greed. Enough is enough.

Greed is innate to humans and you can't even take it away with communism, people will still find a way to collect and hoard. The problem is the low interest rates from central banks flooding the economy with money.

That's not an excuse. Lots of undesirable traits are also innate like violence, tribalism, etc. Does that mean we give those a free pass?

Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods

#54
post #25

Amen to this. Two case studies from the UK I've been thinking about recently: 1) Visiting London and spending time in South Kensington - walking back to hotel at night, only about 30% of houses had any lights on. Suggestion is the others are effectively uninhabited, and a search on RightMove shows properties sell for £20-£30m for a 4/5 bed. This isn't normal Londoners, it's outside investment. 2) Cornwall, where I li…

> walking back to hotel at night, only about 30% of houses had any lights on.

I wish a data scientist at utilities (water, electricity and gas) providers pick up this line and provide some statistics on this. I wish also that city-services companies (e.g. Electricity/water/parking service provider) can collaborate to provide better and justified policy making.

I did similar studies based on open data to provide insights on road/sidewalk optimization usage, and I still see value in collaboration with policy makers.

Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods

#55
post #34
post #19

This is cart before horse stuff. As noticed by other commenters some people need to rent. I am blaming 'quantitative easing'. If the central bank buys a whole lot of assets where do other investors go?

I believe the Netherlands used to allow full tax write-off of the mortgage interest (dunno if they still do). That certainly is bound to heat up the market.

That’s not a full write off and it’s only for a mortgage on a property you reside in. BTW many countries in the EU allow you to write off interest from loans even from credit cards but it didn’t cause an inflation of personal credit line or increased utilization.

Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods

#56
post #36
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You misunderstood. The only way to rent a place is to rent it from an investor. If investors are banned from the city, then students need to buy the house/room they live in. This is of course not feasible for the majority of students.

> The only way to rent a place is to rent it from an investor. You mean in the Netherlands? Because I never had to do that in my country. I'm not aware of places where the only landlords are investors.

[deleted]

Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods

#57
post #25

Amen to this. Two case studies from the UK I've been thinking about recently: 1) Visiting London and spending time in South Kensington - walking back to hotel at night, only about 30% of houses had any lights on. Suggestion is the others are effectively uninhabited, and a search on RightMove shows properties sell for £20-£30m for a 4/5 bed. This isn't normal Londoners, it's outside investment. 2) Cornwall, where I li…

Those empty homes should be torn down or squatted in. I imagine an organisation like a squatters union could be set up to manage protection for them.

Squatters should be shot dead.

Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Greed is innate to humans and you can't even take it away with communism, people will still find a way to collect and hoard. The problem is the low interest rates from central banks flooding the economy with money.

Some greed might be innate, but what we're seeing today with billionaires is not normal greed, it's extreme greed, something me (and many others) don't think is innate. And where does "communism" come from? No one mentioned it here on HN nor in the article. People are so quick to label things, even if they are not even related. In this case, Dutch people seems to had enough of expensive prices so now they are on the…

> what we're seeing today with billionaires is not normal greed, it's extreme greed

No, it's normal greed and, if anything, inequality is lower now than it has been in the past. What we have today is fat, comfortable people looking at billionaires and screaming greed because the billionaire has a yacht while they only have 3 cars and one massive house. Who's the greedy one here?

Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Greed is innate to humans and you can't even take it away with communism, people will still find a way to collect and hoard. The problem is the low interest rates from central banks flooding the economy with money.

Some greed might be innate, but what we're seeing today with billionaires is not normal greed, it's extreme greed, something me (and many others) don't think is innate. And where does "communism" come from? No one mentioned it here on HN nor in the article. People are so quick to label things, even if they are not even related. In this case, Dutch people seems to had enough of expensive prices so now they are on the…

Sadly, it is inculcated in modern capitalism that anything is permissible as long as "it is just business"

Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods

#60
post #52
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Suburbs? What do you think we are, Americans?

I'm Danish and we call it "forstad". It's pretty much the same as a suburb. https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forstad

I know they exist. What I'm saying is that European cities are built around the idea of people being able to live in walking distance of... Everything. Suburbs here exist for snobs and assholes.
Post reply on HN