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There should be a global rule that non-residents can't buy property. Homes should be prioritised for living not investments. It's a drag on the global economy w

There should be a global rule that non-residents can't buy property. Homes should be prioritised for living not investments. It's a drag on the global economy with so much money being tied up in unproductive assets which in turn soak up even more money through rent seeking.

lrem 5y ago
Nah, let them invest. What we need is adding vacancies to the social housing pool.
- rorykoehler 5y ago
  There is no space for that without radical rezoning and densification. The alternative is every city turning into massive urban sprawl which is entirely undesirable. If you are suggesting forcing private investors to make their properties available to public housing stock then I’m not sure why that would be an improvement without serious rent caps in place.
  - lrem 5y ago
    A colleague told me about the setup in their home country some weeks ago, I _think_ that was the Dutch one, excuse my fuzzy memory... Once your €1500 tenant leaves, you have 3 or 6 months to find the next one. If not, the city will offer your place in parallel as social housing and you'll get €400 (flat rate for the whole municipality per size band) if that gets filled first. On a three year contract. Makes for a very good incentive to meet the market.
    - rorykoehler 5y ago
      It's good and I wouldn't complain if this was an outcome however better yet would be a system that allows people to buy their own homes. One of the major pitfalls and imo systemic national security risks in Europe are the high income tax rates. This coupled with foreign investment in the property market means that regular Europeans are effectively priced out of the market with no way back in. Long term this is a crazy risk to run for the sake of maintaining inefficient bureaucracies that don't remotely cater to the pressing needs of citizens.
      - lrem 5y ago
        I'm afraid that even without the foreign investment one can't win this. Europe still sees a minor population growth. More importantly, there are large migration flows between countries, regions and to cities in general. This means that even in places with no/very low foreign ownership and virtually no vacancies, you still have runaway markets. Dublin is a good example of that. Same stands for almost every place where I lived. With the exception of the French Riviera, where the runaway market is indeed fuelled by vacancies, likely foreign-owned.
        rorykoehler 5y ago
        I'm from Dublin and Dublin's problem is two fold. First of all, many of the politicians are landlords so have a massive conflict of interest. Second is zoning laws are outrageously bad. Urban sprawl is the name of the game.
    - roel_v 5y ago
      That's totally nuts and it's not the Dutch system.
roel_v 5y ago
That's not what rent seeking means
- rorykoehler 5y ago
  Sure it is. From wiki: Rent-seeking is the effort to increase one's share of existing wealth without creating new wealth. Landlords soak up all excess income from increased productivity. Where do you think the term came from when it was coined?

lrem 5y ago

Nah, let them invest. What we need is adding vacancies to the social housing pool.

rorykoehler 5y ago
There is no space for that without radical rezoning and densification. The alternative is every city turning into massive urban sprawl which is entirely undesirable. If you are suggesting forcing private investors to make their properties available to public housing stock then I’m not sure why that would be an improvement without serious rent caps in place.
- lrem 5y ago
  A colleague told me about the setup in their home country some weeks ago, I _think_ that was the Dutch one, excuse my fuzzy memory... Once your €1500 tenant leaves, you have 3 or 6 months to find the next one. If not, the city will offer your place in parallel as social housing and you'll get €400 (flat rate for the whole municipality per size band) if that gets filled first. On a three year contract. Makes for a very good incentive to meet the market.
  - rorykoehler 5y ago
    It's good and I wouldn't complain if this was an outcome however better yet would be a system that allows people to buy their own homes. One of the major pitfalls and imo systemic national security risks in Europe are the high income tax rates. This coupled with foreign investment in the property market means that regular Europeans are effectively priced out of the market with no way back in. Long term this is a crazy risk to run for the sake of maintaining inefficient bureaucracies that don't remotely cater to the pressing needs of citizens.
    - lrem 5y ago
      I'm afraid that even without the foreign investment one can't win this. Europe still sees a minor population growth. More importantly, there are large migration flows between countries, regions and to cities in general. This means that even in places with no/very low foreign ownership and virtually no vacancies, you still have runaway markets. Dublin is a good example of that. Same stands for almost every place where I lived. With the exception of the French Riviera, where the runaway market is indeed fuelled by vacancies, likely foreign-owned.
      - rorykoehler 5y ago
        I'm from Dublin and Dublin's problem is two fold. First of all, many of the politicians are landlords so have a massive conflict of interest. Second is zoning laws are outrageously bad. Urban sprawl is the name of the game.
  - roel_v 5y ago
    That's totally nuts and it's not the Dutch system.

roel_v 5y ago

That's not what rent seeking means

rorykoehler 5y ago
Sure it is. From wiki: Rent-seeking is the effort to increase one's share of existing wealth without creating new wealth. Landlords soak up all excess income from increased productivity. Where do you think the term came from when it was coined?