>Why taxes? Rich idiots buying just for resale would not be impeded in any way.

Resale value would plummet if properties were taxed more, especially if extra onerous taxes were put on foreign investors. This would discourage rich dirty-money investors using central London property as an offshore savings account.

>to allow "holiday flats"

I really don't see why Russians who spend two weeks in London a year need to occupy a huge apartment in South Ken. That space could be used for Londoners who are being pushed into zone 5.

> Resale value would plummet if properties were taxed more, especially if extra onerous taxes were put on foreign investors. This would discourage rich dirty-money investors using central London property as an offshore savings account.

Another idea that just jumped to my mind: why not tax any capital gains on property sales by 100%? Of course, deduct the inflation over the time the property was held by the owner, and in case the value of the property was increased by e.g. upgrading it, also deduct these costs and 5% margin for this investment... that would essentially disallow property investment.

Homes are made for living and profits should be made by living in the property or by renting it out.

I think this is basically the idea behind this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax

Profiting from building a better home on the same plot of land shouldn't be eliminated, but profiting from building a house on a piece of land that suddenly becomes more valuable certainly should be.

> Resale value would plummet if properties were taxed more, especially if extra onerous taxes were put on foreign investors. This would discourage rich dirty-money investors using central London property as an offshore savings account.

If you're a Russian with enough cash to spare to buy a central London property just as an investment asset, the taxes have to be in triple-digit million ranges to become noteworthy.

> I really don't see why Russians who spend two weeks in London a year need to occupy a huge apartment in South Ken. That space could be used for Londoners who are being pushed into zone 5.

Expensive, multi-million-dollar apartments are not affordable by working-class people.

Of course there's the catch-22: if those locations were not so desirable as speculation assets, would the 2-3 bed houses (aŕ flats) still cost several millions?

>If you're a Russian with enough cash to spare to buy a central London property just as an investment asset, the taxes have to be in triple-digit million ranges to become noteworthy.

Higher taxes don't just mean higher taxes for the Russian, they also reduce the value of his property as an investment.

>Expensive, multi-million-dollar apartments are not affordable by working-class people.

Hence the use of the word "space", not "apartment".

Expensive multi million apartments wouldn't get built if people weren't incentivised to buy them, and instead property developers would be building houses normal people can afford to live in.