Could be, because the 1% buy multiple properties in many different cities. There have been articles about how the City of London has neighborhoods of empty luxu

Could be, because the 1% buy multiple properties in many different cities. There have been articles about how the City of London has neighborhoods of empty luxury apartment developments owned by various sheikhs and russian/central asian commodities oligarchs. In SF when you buy a house you are also competing with dozens of investors from overseas paying cash who don't have any intention of ever living there. I believe that the Vancouver real estate market was also affected by overseas investors in a similar way, making it the least affordable housing market in North America. Multiply this speculative real estate investment by 1% of 7 billion and it could very well be a major factor in pushing up rents, especially in certain super desirable cities like Paris. There's about 1.7 million residences there. Even if only 1% of the 1% want a pied a terre there, the rest of the people trying to live there would feel the squeeze.