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by matt-p 525 days ago
I think the ship has sailed, but regardless isn't it all meaningless? Surely they can setup a company to get around it, or will be ban all foreign ownership of shares too?
2 comments

Assets cant be shipped overseas. They are here, in the UK. That's the beauty of it. Taxes can force them back to UK ownership.

The rich are buying the only asset the middle class will ever probably own, housing.

Land is a public good, insofar as "buying" the land still comes with obligations to the state (paying taxes, conforming to building codes and zoning regulation, etc). Just because you "own" it doesn't actually mean you can do as you please.

Given all of that, it is not unreasonable to limit or outright prohibit foreign ownership of land, or ownership of land by companies which are not majority-locally controlled.

It's interesting, I just think the second order effects might be a bit scary.

Having said that I guess for FDI there's always the option of getting a local company to "JV" with like in China.