The measures, announced Thursday, include higher seller stamp duty rates for residential properties, while the holding period which would result in a seller's stamp duty was extended from three to four years.

I can see the value of this, but I can also see potential downside.

We lived next door to a guy for 20 years. During most of that time his home was well kept; he mowed the yard, spread the mulch, and took care of whatever needed to be tended to, including hiring tree companies to take down branches that overhung his roof, etc.

But during the last 5 years his wife divorced him, he spiraled into alcohol abuse, and the children were far away and the house depreciated significantly. Inside it was a wreck, outside the back porch became rickety and needed to be rebuilt, the grounds deteriorated, etc. He eventually died, falling down a flight of stairs in a drunken stupor.

The house was sold to one of those “WE BUY HOUSES, ANY CONDITION!” guys, who promptly set up a huge dumpster in the driveway (and filled and emptied it four times), who rebuilt the porch, replaced a couple windows, replanted the lawn, replaced the outdated kitchen cabinets, repainted the entire interior, etc. Within a year the home was back to 100% and he flipped it.

I’m wondering how a law such as the one quoted upthread would affect this sort of thing. Trying to sell the house in its terrible condition would only have attracted someone with not enough money to do the repairs in the first place, or let it sit, unsold for months, maybe years, deteriorating further.

I was glad for the flipper. It helped my property values.