It is astonishing that we allow, for example, millionaires in Singapore to buy land and property in Britain, but Singapore bars British and other foreign nationals from buying in their country.
Denmark prohibits non-EU nationals from buying a home unless they have lived in the country for five years – and, like Finland and Malta, is allowed by the EU to restrict EU citizens from buying second homes in the country. Australia has dramatically cracked down on foreign buyers who have pumped the property market in Sydney and Melbourne to absurd levels. Only Britain leaves the doors almost completely open.
The Bow Group proposes that foreign residents should be limited to the purchase of a single property, and only in the new-build sector, with penalties if they sell within five years. No new block should be more than 50% foreign-owned, it says. But the report goes further than just hammering foreign nationals – it wants the Bank of England to set a target where house prices average no more than four times income.
East Devon Watch 