zlacker

>>eswat+(OP)
It's quite bizarre any jurisdiction would allow someone to buy housing there when they can't legally live in it.

>>causi+N4
Why? Should we restrict other investments with similar logic? For example should non-residents not be allowed to purchase vacation properties and lease them?

The impulse to enlist the government to regulate private property and investments is not productive and results in endless encroachment of individual liberties and rights to governments.

>>alchem+67
Yes. Restricting foreigners from owning domestic assets is the beginning. Next comes restricting / heavily taxing domestic owners that own more than one home. Sooner or later, housing gets closer to being what it's supposed to be (shelter and space for people who need it) rather than a financial vehicle.

>>tslocu+4a
This proposal is a slippery slope to economic disaster. First, restricting ownership rights—foreign or domestic—distorts the market, disincentivizes investment, and ultimately harms those it claims to help by reducing the supply of housing. Second, treating homes purely as shelter ignores the reality that property is also an investment and a key component of individual wealth and economic freedom. Imposing heavy taxes on those owning more than one home would not only penalize success but also discourage rental market contributions, exacerbating the housing shortage. The real solution lies in encouraging development and reducing bureaucratic barriers to increase housing supply, not in draconian measures that trample on property rights and stifle economic growth. Let’s not replace a market-driven approach with a command economy that history has repeatedly shown to fail.

>>alchem+3e
> treating homes purely as shelter ignores the reality that property is also an investment

But that's the problem, isn't it? The basic necessities of life shouldn't become a vehicle for speculation.

FTR, all of my wealth is in two homes.

>>denton+sr
Asserting that housing—or any basic necessity—shouldn’t be an investment is a dangerously naive stance that flies in the face of economic reality and human history. Consider food, water, healthcare—all necessities, yet all benefit from private investment and innovation. The collectivist dream to strip away the investment aspect of housing is a recipe for disaster, leading to shortages, degradation, and inefficiency. Your stance isn’t just misguided; it’s empirically proven to fail, fostering misery under the guise of equality. Housing, like any resource, flourishes under conditions of freedom, not under the heavy hand of state control. To suggest otherwise is to ignore the lessons of history and to jeopardize the very foundations of prosperity and freedom.

>>alchem+7E
> Consider food, water, healthcare—all necessities, yet all benefit from private investment and innovation.

I live beside the river Thames, which private "investment" has transformed into a sewer. My access to food has shrunk; I used to have access to butchers, greengrocers and so on. Now all my food comes from supermarkets. The health system I depend on has been gradually privatized, and it is now at breaking point.

> the lessons of history

History is squishy stuff; we mould it to support the conclusions we want to draw.

[Edit] I'm interested that you didn't challenge my equating of investment with speculation, because I didn't mention investment. Obviously, without capital investment, you don't get capital assets like houses. But my neighbourhood is blighted by absentee landlords; one neighbour is an AirBnB, the other has been empty for 5 years. Both are owned by absentee landlords, one living 2,000Km away. That's not investment; that's speculation.