A ban on non-residents buying homes in New Zealand is not enough to solve the problems of affordable housing and homelessness, analysts and campaigners said, as the country became the latest to impose property restrictions.
New Zealand's parliament last week passed a law to bar many non-resident foreigners from buying existing homes in a bid to curb house price growth and reduce rates of homelessness.
The ban exempts Australians and may also exclude Singapore.
Foreign ownership has attracted criticism in recent years as New Zealand grapples with a housing crunch that has seen average prices in the largest city, Auckland, almost double in the past decade, and rise more than 60% nationwide.
However, reaction to the ban was mixed, with some analysts saying it may help boost affordability, while campaigners said it would not solve the more pressing problem of homelessness.
"It will take some price pressure off the top end of the market, which may trickle through to affordability at the lower end. However, it won't have much effect," said Timothy Hazledine, professor of economics at the University of Auckland.
"There definitely is an affordability problem, generated simply by the pressure of demand on a finite supply of desirable real estate. Bans on foreign ownership are a tiny step in this direction," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The United Nations estimates that globally, at least 150 million people, or about 2% of the population, are homeless. More than a fifth of the population lacks adequate housing.
Governments worldwide, including in Ireland, are under pressure to boost housing affordability and fix a growing problem of urban homelessness.
Canada last year recognised housing as a fundamental right, and committed to creating up to 100,000 affordable housing units and providing financial assistance to some 300,000 low-income households.
India has pledged to provide housing for all citizens by 2022, with an aim to build 20m urban housing units and 30m rural homes, although activists say the programme does not address the problem of homelessness.
New Zealand has the highest rate of homelessness amongst wealthy nations that are part of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, with almost 1%of its population living without a permanent shelter in 2015.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has unveiled an ambitious plan to build social infrastructure, including an extra NZ$634m (€366m) for housing to help thousands of residents sleeping in cars and shop entrances.
