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Comment by octocop | Hacker News Reader

Foreigners buying property are not tourists. I would say that's a way bigger issue than tourism.

Yes, and IMO this needs to be regulated everywhere (even in non touristic places). Prevent companies from buying residential type of estate. And only allow individuals to buy one property if non-citizen or two (main and secondary) if a citizen.

Tourists sleep in spaces that could be houses for residents.

Said tourists still pay the local residents money for that. So the locals make money. Which in my opinion is a good thing.

Probably the vast majority of local residents aren't landlords making money on tourist housing...

Which was my main point from the get go

I don't really understand your point... that the problem is non-local people making money on housing?

Even if it was only local people making money on housing this would be a net negative to local residents. Housing that exists is placed on the "global" market rather than the local one. Unavailable to anyone but tourists.

They are saying foreigners consuming for private use/cleaning money and taking them off the market entirely is a separate and greater issue. Not for rental.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/21/upshot/when-the-empty-apa...

Foreigners buying property are not tourists.

Not all of them, but certainly many are. Plus they're often also buying to rent out to tourists.

By definition they are not.

By what definition? If I own an apartment in Spain and pop down there a few weeks each year to relax and chill, how am I not a tourist.

Because you live there, pay taxes there which funds local services, and own property there.

I'm not talking about people moving to the country, I'm talking about people who buy a holiday home there. And on the tax front I suspect people staying at hotels and eating at restaurants pay every bit as much tax as people staying in their holiday homes.

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