Some pro-tax comments are so naive... You think if you help the government get 15% of the purchase price, rather than it going to the rightful owner,  there's something in it for you.  Lenin had a term for such idi.. well, you look it up. In fact, if prices would not be so high in these first-rate cities, even fewer houses would be on the market. No way and no how will prices go down from additional taxes until  reduced RE and construction activity will cause a recession (what high taxation usually does, even if it applies just to foreign investors). If you think that would be good for you at the expense of somebody else, you must be really short-sighted.