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I'm not saying that this would work but as a thought experiment: Any entity that buys a house zoned as residential has to pay a tax of 100% of the value of the

I'm not saying that this would work but as a thought experiment: Any entity that buys a house zoned as residential has to pay a tax of 100% of the value of the house. Private citizens get an exemption on this tax, if their main residence of which you can only have one, and are 18 or older. CGT is 100% (Deductions for home improvements could be added) The municipality builds affordable housing The tax would probably need to be gradually increased as it would likely cause a bit of crash on the housing market, say over 10 years. There is an obvious lack of political will to carry out such a measure and I'm sure that there are loads of unintended consequences

dalbasal 8y ago
This is pretty much the same as banning non-resident owners, bit it's formally a punitive tax rate rather than a ban. The problem is still the same problem, rent markets collapse.. so, public housing would have to plug that hole. I think it's important, in the context of public debate, to keep things simple. If an idea approximately transposes into another one... address them as a single idea. I'd catalogue this one under. "Owner-occupancy and public housing only." This is not realistic in most places, but maybe in the context of Berlin it's possible.
pintxo 8y ago
Won’t work. Due to higher property sales taxes here in Germany, any building complex worth more than a couple million is already owned by a shell company. If the building is to be sold, they sell the shell company instead to not have to pay property sales tax. Such a law would simply result in each building be wrapped in a shell company.
stale2002 8y ago
What you are suggesting would result in all renters being kicked out of the city. Now, if you want to live in a city, you have to Shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars. Berlin would only be for the rich, as no renting company would be willing to rent anything to people.

dalbasal 8y ago

This is pretty much the same as banning non-resident owners, bit it's formally a punitive tax rate rather than a ban. The problem is still the same problem, rent markets collapse.. so, public housing would have to plug that hole. I think it's important, in the context of public debate, to keep things simple. If an idea approximately transposes into another one... address them as a single idea. I'd catalogue this one under. "Owner-occupancy and public housing only." This is not realistic in most places, but maybe in the context of Berlin it's possible.

pintxo 8y ago

Won’t work. Due to higher property sales taxes here in Germany, any building complex worth more than a couple million is already owned by a shell company. If the building is to be sold, they sell the shell company instead to not have to pay property sales tax. Such a law would simply result in each building be wrapped in a shell company.

stale2002 8y ago

What you are suggesting would result in all renters being kicked out of the city. Now, if you want to live in a city, you have to Shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars. Berlin would only be for the rich, as no renting company would be willing to rent anything to people.