A house with an absent owner overseas is usually still occupied by somebody, so still contributes to housing supply. I don't really think the measure will have

A house with an absent owner overseas is usually still occupied by somebody, so still contributes to housing supply. I don't really think the measure will have much if any affect. There may be some houses that are left vacant, the owner could be in NZ or somewhere else. Perhaps it would have been more useful to take measures against that instead.