Vacancy Tax Not Effective in Short Run: Housing Expert

A prominent housing expert says vacancy tax would hardly push down rents or home prices in the short run.
Fardin Yazdani, the planner of Comprehensive Housing Initiative of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, added that from the get-go, he approved of taxing empty homes in principle. 
He, however, noted that “it can’t be a powerful tool to curtail home prices and rent levels in the short term, given the fact that most of the empty residential properties are located in the luxurious, expensive northern districts of the capital city”. 
“These under-used housing units have been built as means of investment as opposed to a place of living," he said. “Therefore, they will have little effect in bringing the housing market back to equilibrium. The same is true about the tenancy market. Demand for such homes is low among renters,” he was quoted as saying by Hibna.