By definition, it's not. It's a term coined to separate out the impact on prices of people buying-to-live vs people buying-to-sell/rent-and-profit. And if foreigners are more likely to buy for speculative purposes, barring them from doing so will decrease speculative increases in house prices.
Imagine if the stocks of public companies were not fixed in supply. The company at any time could simply decide to have shares for 200%, 300%, or 1000% without compensating existing shareholders in any way. If that was the case, stocks would be total garbage as an investment. Prices would plummet to 0.
The reason metro real estate is so attractive as an investment is because supply is inelastic. If we want to encourage usage, as oppose to hoarding, we should do like we do with fiat currencies and allow more of it to be made.
Banning foreigners might have some tiny effect, but honestly seems a bit like arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. We can check in after a year, but all my money is on Auckland continuing to have an expensive housing market (unless they allow more rezoning). Further, banning foreigners of course is also banning a valuable export and will cut off a stream of foreign money that was previously flowing into the local economy.
Investing in real estate would be purchasing property for its income earning potential.
Speculating would be purchasing for capital gains potential.
You might argue that people do both at once but if you would only make the purchase if there is a potential for capital gains and not otherwise, then you are speculating.
> Speculation is a method of short-term investing whereby traders essentially bet on the direction an asset's price will move.
This is what most people would assume speculation to mean in the context of this discussion. It is quite normal to compare this type of speculative investment with other - especially productive - investment.
Rent and profit is a great investment for the general public. Thats not speculation, thats straight down investment.
Buy to sell is speculation, in the sense that it might not be representing the underlying risks. But even then its doubtful: if you think construction materials will rise 20% in the next year, buying your house to day and sitting on it is a sound investment, one that benefits the whole.
Speculator is an overused word to depict an enemy that kills itself.
You make no sense, all investment is speculation.
While they may have the same meaning in a general sense, and are synonyms from a distance, once you get up close, you can distinguish meaning between them.
That's just how English works. Huge and colossal are the same until you pull out the D&D sourcebook, and then it turns out that colossal is bigger than huge.