I don't think the IMF is looking for a quick fix but rather, a change in direction of how NZ's housing market has been treated as a commodity for profiting. You can fact check this but since 1991, home ownership has been on the decline. I can see this with my own eyes of more and more houses that go for sale, end up in the hands of investment consortium groups (that pool individual incomes in like the same manner way as Robert Kyosaki's (author of Rich Dad Poor Dad) has with his seminar promotions over in N. America).
I've read utter non-sense from the anti-CGT camp saying any such tax will have sellers adding that tax amount to the purchase price of the home. WHAT??? That's not gonna happen.
The primary goal for a CGT on houses is to reduce the demand of these rental consortiums by discouraging the use of houses as a means of profiteering. While not 100% effective, this has been done well in places like Canada and in the US, you can read below for the data:
https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/t...w-it-all-began
Yes large cities like Vancouver still experienced high housing prices ; no different to NYC and SanFrancisco. But the real measurement of having a non-housing crisis is simply by the % of families and individuals that OWN their home. What i've seen in Vancouver is detached houses continue to be owned by family dwellings, etc. and for those that choose the rental path, they do so by living in high density apartments (something that Auckland has difficulty in achieving due to the restrictive RMA). Anotherwords, individuals simply can't compete with the private investors when it comes to bidding on a house for sale.
As for houses being the best way to profit in NZ? A CGT will certainly reduce that demand making ventures like house flipping less common (note this would not affect those in the business buying and selling houses) ; what we're speaking of is the useless brightline test of 5 years. These investors simply mortgage on multiple houses for retirement in 10 or 30 years later as the capital gains would be tax free.
Now, will the Labour gov't bring in CGT? Not likely. I don't think any form of new taxes will be on the table.
Lastly, can anyone suggest who actually benefits from the rapidly rise in housing prices? The high income earners that are able to leverage so they can own multiple homes ; maybe the top NZ 5%? Shame on you. The 95% left will suffer as future generations pay more for a house. Those that already own and mortgage free would simply pass it on to the next generation. But since home ownership has been on a decline since 1991, it's clear less and less of that will be the case. Also all the major banks in NZ are foreign owned, they too benefit from the rapid rise in housing prices ; as the profits go to their shareholders overseas.