In recent years a flood of footloose international capital, much of it from China, has been searching for homes in which to invest. In parts of the world, however, that cash has become rather less welcome.
Over the past year, regional authorities in British Columbia in Canada and Australia’s New South Wales have both introduced surcharges aimed at overseas buyers of homes. They joined Hong Kong and Singapore, which already penalised foreign buyers. Switzerland, meanwhile, bans non-residents from outside Europe from buying altogether. In the UK, the stamp duty system has been overhauled to raise charges at the top end and add a surcharge for buyers of second and additional homes.
In most cases, such charges are aimed at cooling overheated markets and keeping homes affordable for domestic buyers.