I think that is precisely for the reason. To prevent people from purchasing housing they don't need so that houses would be more affordable for people to purchase and live in. Rather than paying a premium to live in a house someone else owns but doesn't plan on living in.

Houses would be incredibly cheap if there were no incentive for wealthy individuals to own multiple properties when they could invest their money elsewhere. The price of houses would have to be affordable enough for people to actually purchase them over choosing to live in an apartment complex.

Apartment complexes can house more individuals in a small space - so if it incentives to build houses change to building more apartments that isn't necessarily a bad thing when trying to house people...