4 ms·

Real estate is not that big of a money laundering channel. It's mostly the most unsophisticated mobs. The absolute majority of laundry is happening in 100% leg

• jazzyjackson 3y ago
  > Real estate is not that big of a money laundering channel. I don't have numbers but I'll suggest that even if real estate is a small fraction of all money laundering (and I agree with you about banks), if even a percent or two of manhattan real estate supply is held up in schemes that could make a big impact on price. I know AirBnB always catches blame for skyrocketing rent, while in any city they represent a vanishly small portion of housing stock, for sure outnumbered by vacant units. [actually it occurs to me that renting units for exorbitant prices on airbnb to ghost clientele would be a decent money laundering scheme, no?] (For example, in San Francisco there are ~5000 listings on AirBnB [0], while ~40,000 homes sit vacant [1], for a population of what, 800,000 ?) So a small change in housing supply can have a big effect on cost of housing, which is why I expect people are clamoring for a crack down. [0] https://web.archive.org/web/20210720175121/https://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/news/short-term-rentals-airbnb-study/ https://web.archive.org/web/20210720175121/https://www.magni... [1] https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/how-many-vacant-homes-are-there-in-San-Francisco-16822916.php https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/how-many-vacant-homes...