Foreign-owned homes are a problem for asset acquirers. Vacant homes are a problem for anyone who needs housing. The former seems to get a lot of visibilty when concerns around the latter get raised.
But they pay taxes without demanding any services and the seller assessed they had better use of the capital, they could buy or build a more suitable home.
If I lived in a location with 50% vacant homes all paying property taxes then wouldn’t my schools and streets and all local government services be extremely well funded?
If the polity is smart, yes.
It looks like British Columbia gets about 15% of its revenue from property taxes and transfers [1]. So you'd need adjustments to make up for the personal, corporate, sales, fuel, carbon, tobacco and insurance premium (?) revenues the vacant homeowner isn't paying.
[1] https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-gov... Table 2.3