Any reliable statistics on the number of vacant properties overall? I hear rumours about "whole blocks bought out by the pesky mainlanders as investment to park bribe money, standing empty for years" - true/false?
Not sure what anyone can accomplish with a vacancy tax. Firstly--are people not entitled to own two homes ? Can they live in both or have a weekend home, as I know some do have to get away from the city.
I haven't seen that many vacant residential units. If anything it's the developer whose hoarding properties for 10-20 years until the price hits a magic number. When land is sold, the government should require developers to disclose the timeframe for selling majority of the project and 100% of the project then add a tax. My estate still had unsold units and I bet the developer will hold them for another 20-30 years too. But I don't mind less people either.
The main issue with vacant properties probably links more towards commercial flats! Well at least these we see more often. There are some old vacant buildings--not sure what's going on with those either.
Given the ability of Xi to generate fear, I feel we can dispense with favour for the time being.
Would this only apply to developer's unsold stock (which likely is a drop in the ocean) or privately held units kept empty for speculation purposes / AIrBnB (which I guess to be much higher)?
Airbnb units are merely thousands of units. Henderson might have several thousand units unsold at one of their estates times how many unsold estates! Long Beach in Olympic is a perfect example.
There should absolutely be a tax on those who use property as a business.
There is a difference between someone who rents out a second flat on Airbnb and someone who owns about 5 properties which are vacant or a property developer not selling thousands of flats when the demand is there.
It's called taxes on rental!! Do you propose more taxes? Then I shall raise your rent to make up for it.
From what i gather, vacancy tax is not a rental tax. It is taxes on vacant properties where the owner does not sell or rent out.
The tax just needs to be high enough that it doesn't make sense for them to leave it vacant. That should then increase the supply for rent or for sale.