There's reasons for these sorts of policies that go beyond housing prices. For instance, too many vacation/investment properties makes it harder for cities to p

There's reasons for these sorts of policies that go beyond housing prices. For instance, too many vacation/investment properties makes it harder for cities to provide services. How do you forecast demand for electricity, gas, water, trash removal and schools when non-resident owners are using those services sporadically or not at all? These kinds of services all benefit from higher population density and ownership by absentees makes it harder for city governments. It would be nice if these laws were written in a less xenophobic fashion (i.e. allow ownership for citizens and permanent residents who've lived a certain number of years in country), but these kinds of policies have their purpose, even if they don't solve the housing affordability problem. It's in the interests of a city/country to have the people who own property in it be people who are committed to living there and caring about the community.