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> Local buyers bid against one another as well as against investors who now comprise about a fifth of annual home sales nationally. Have any places tried imple

> Local buyers bid against one another as well as against investors who now comprise about a fifth of annual home sales nationally. Have any places tried implementing residency laws requiring the owners of a home to actually spend some minimum out of time there? I imagine that the existing homeowners would oppose such a law, since it would reduce the pool of potential buyers, and thus the values of their own homes. And I imagine there's other collateral damage that would result from that kind of half-baked rule. But there is something gross to me, maybe illogically so, about wealthy investors crowding out young families who would actually ... use the house.

ivankolev 5y ago
They've tried something to that effect in Vancouver and Toronto. It is 15% tax for non-residents, in Toronto at least. Was instituted 2017, and it did not change a thing, both cities still among the hottest real estate markets in the world.
- perl4ever 5y ago
  So? Is 15% the most imaginable?
- philwelch 5y ago
  Is that meant as a disincentive or as a way for the local government to collect more revenue to capitalize on the phenomenon?
  - ivankolev 5y ago
    I'd say both, and it is failing at both counts :). The federal government is actually thinking of imposing it across Canada, even though most other places other than Vancouver and Toronto could actually use some foreign investment.
    - philwelch 5y ago
      Pigovian taxes are good economics but dubious politics for this exact reason. If you rely on them for revenue, you don’t want to actually disincentivize the behavior they’re intended to disincentivize so you keep the tax artificially low.
axaxs 5y ago
Agreed. Every time I get into a thought or conversation about it my blood just boils. Screw taxing...make it illegal for any person or entity to own more than say, 2 houses. Maybe 3? Downvote away, but real estate investors are real scum. Invest in literally anything else.
- visualradio 5y ago
  > Screw taxing...make it illegal for any person or entity to own more than say, 2 houses. Maybe 3 Taxes are a simpler and more effective though. Ideal solution is a land tax on comparable sales price of the estate less some portion of replacement cost of non-obsolete fixed capital improvements. If there is a lot large enough for 10 houses worth millions in the middle of the city next to publicly maintained infrastructure, investors might be able to avoid the cap by rendering the units uninhabitable, removing toilets, etc. Land and property taxes do not have to be flat taxes. They are easy to make distributive by adding an X% deduction on the first $Y in tax payments per resident per billing period that they resided in the same jurisdiction that the parcel is located. State governments can reform property tax system by appointing state commissioners to chair a state board of equalization attended by local assessors to reappraise property values at the state level. When this was done in the Progressive Era, states found large areas of land held by railroad corporations and barons which were not being taxed at all and put them on the tax rolls. The federal government can also introduce a national property tax by amending and reintroducing the direct tax collected under James Madison. Any increase in direct land or property tax burden can be offset by distributive offsets for permanent residents or cuts to regressive taxes such as sales taxes and payroll taxes.
  - axaxs 5y ago
    Understood and good points, but think of the end game. I talked to a guy last week who works for an 'investment' firm. He said they're buying about 10 houses a week in my market, renting them all. It really blew my mind. Imagine if businesses eventually buy -all- housing. You can tax them 10000%, they'll just pass it on to renters. I feel like we're slipping back to feudal times.

ivankolev 5y ago

They've tried something to that effect in Vancouver and Toronto. It is 15% tax for non-residents, in Toronto at least. Was instituted 2017, and it did not change a thing, both cities still among the hottest real estate markets in the world.

perl4ever 5y ago
So? Is 15% the most imaginable?
philwelch 5y ago
Is that meant as a disincentive or as a way for the local government to collect more revenue to capitalize on the phenomenon?
- ivankolev 5y ago
  I'd say both, and it is failing at both counts :). The federal government is actually thinking of imposing it across Canada, even though most other places other than Vancouver and Toronto could actually use some foreign investment.
  - philwelch 5y ago
    Pigovian taxes are good economics but dubious politics for this exact reason. If you rely on them for revenue, you don’t want to actually disincentivize the behavior they’re intended to disincentivize so you keep the tax artificially low.

axaxs 5y ago

Agreed. Every time I get into a thought or conversation about it my blood just boils. Screw taxing...make it illegal for any person or entity to own more than say, 2 houses. Maybe 3? Downvote away, but real estate investors are real scum. Invest in literally anything else.

visualradio 5y ago
> Screw taxing...make it illegal for any person or entity to own more than say, 2 houses. Maybe 3 Taxes are a simpler and more effective though. Ideal solution is a land tax on comparable sales price of the estate less some portion of replacement cost of non-obsolete fixed capital improvements. If there is a lot large enough for 10 houses worth millions in the middle of the city next to publicly maintained infrastructure, investors might be able to avoid the cap by rendering the units uninhabitable, removing toilets, etc. Land and property taxes do not have to be flat taxes. They are easy to make distributive by adding an X% deduction on the first $Y in tax payments per resident per billing period that they resided in the same jurisdiction that the parcel is located. State governments can reform property tax system by appointing state commissioners to chair a state board of equalization attended by local assessors to reappraise property values at the state level. When this was done in the Progressive Era, states found large areas of land held by railroad corporations and barons which were not being taxed at all and put them on the tax rolls. The federal government can also introduce a national property tax by amending and reintroducing the direct tax collected under James Madison. Any increase in direct land or property tax burden can be offset by distributive offsets for permanent residents or cuts to regressive taxes such as sales taxes and payroll taxes.
- axaxs 5y ago
  Understood and good points, but think of the end game. I talked to a guy last week who works for an 'investment' firm. He said they're buying about 10 houses a week in my market, renting them all. It really blew my mind. Imagine if businesses eventually buy -all- housing. You can tax them 10000%, they'll just pass it on to renters. I feel like we're slipping back to feudal times.