Overseas wealth is forcing up our property prices

In the distance is a large body of water, containing a smattering of vessels.

At the surf's edge, Lowry-esque stick people gather in groups, basking in the glow of the afternoon sun above.

It could easily be a view from the South Downs, looking down on the cluster of towns which border the English Channel.

Instead, I am in Italy, peering through the fabled Tuscan air at a scene captured in holiday albums across the world.

The pictures on my own camera are no different as I'm halfway through a trip across the beautiful boot shaped landscape we all know and love.

The base from which I pen this piece is a red-bricked cottage which would probably be abandoned if a family member had not turned it into a second home away from home.

It's everything you could want from a place in the sun - relaxing, peaceful and not too far away from a place where you can get decent food and wine for cheap prices.

Every night looking at the night sky I'm thankful to be here, knowing the only problems are keeping the mosquitos away, finding a tonic for the wounds the little blighters cause and adjusting to reality when this adventure comes to end.

I was thinking of answers to these problems the other night while nursing a large tumbler of Chianti when another conundrum came into view - the question of second homes.

Some may call me hypocritical, but even in the midst of enjoying a stay in one, my view has not changed - knowing how hard it is for people my age to afford just one property in the area we call home, I've always been against the principle.

It was for this exact reason that a few years back the city council passed a range of local laws designed to financially deter people from having second or holiday properties in the area.

In a way it has worked - but not when it comes to those with really deep pockets.

Take the recent development of Brighton Marina, for instance.

Prices for the flats are in the £400,000 range, well out of the reach of most in the city.

And the reason for the prices being so high? 

Demand.

But not demand from those living within the immediate surroundings of Brighton and Hove, or even those wanting to spend the odd week a year down there; it is demand from those based in China and the Middle East.

Rather than flats going to people who will turn them into homes, some are snapped up by those who will let them sit empty for large parts of the year.

Rather than a home, it becomes a sort of bank, a place for the wealthy to stash their money for a few years before they move it elsewhere.

With property prices rising by 10 per cent a year in Brighton, when the property is sold the result even after deductions will be a bigger return than any gold-plated savings account.

It is this globalised exploitation of the property market which is leading some cities to hit back even more.

For instance, Toronto in Canada is embarking on a widespread programme to cut down the number of second properties.

At its heart will be extra taxes on the investors, some of which will go back into supporting new housing.

Others have gone a little further.

In parts of south east Asia, foreigners are completely banned from buying any property, even if they have lived there for decades.

The result is that property prices are kept low and affordable to locals.

And if anyone is to profit from renting out homes, it is those that were born in the surrounding area.

With buying in Brighton and Hove becoming more and more difficult, these ideas will no doubt gain traction locally.

Nearly half the city is a tenant, paying for the privilege of living in someone else's property.

And in the time I have been in the area, rents have increased by 30 per cent while wages have risen by about 3 per cent.

This cannot go on.

Just like Tuscany, it is a place where people want to be.

The thing that sets it apart though is that whereas in Italy, properties would fall apart without the care and attention of their arms-length owners; in Brighton and Hove, far from being left to rot, the flats and houses freed up from long-distance ownership would become homes which people would cherish every day of the year.

NOTES from holiday in Italy #488.

The pizza here really is different class - a thin fluffy crust supporting ham that melts in your mouth and creamy cheese made just a few days ago from the animals you can hear in the distance.

But I doubt many of you will have eaten simple but sumptuous fare in someone's front room-cum-restaurant which also hosts a private Mussolini museum.

Bizarre. Bonkers. A little unsettling. But so, so Italian.