Oh yeah, the only empty houses are all the AirBnBs (at my weekly rent every night) or lock'n'leaves. Probably 2/3rds of my street is empty most of the time. Rentals can't be had for love or money, we got lucky with ours at the end of covid.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Man we really should have some sort of empty house tax. Our lack of housing supply is definitely exacerbated by all the empty houses.

[–] BalpeenHammer@lemmy.nz 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That would be an orwellian nightmare to monitor let alone dealing with all the disputes in court.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Haha yes, it does seem that way. However, there are other places already doing it, so there must be a feasible way of doing it.

[–] liv@lemmy.nz 3 points 9 months ago

A proper capital gains tax on everything outside the primary residence is effectively an empty house tax.

The AirBnB part needs more regulation though.

[–] BalpeenHammer@lemmy.nz 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Why are the AirBnBs empty? I figured they would be booked pretty solid.

[–] fallaciousreasoning@lemmy.nz 1 points 9 months ago

Just not consistently full - definitely people in them, just not all the time. Only time everything is full is the school holidays...