I work in real estate and am privy to the behind-the-scenes details of some of these all cash, foreign buyer deals, in markets like SF, NYC and Miami. There's

I work in real estate and am privy to the behind-the-scenes details of some of these all cash, foreign buyer deals, in markets like SF, NYC and Miami. There's nothing new about it: money laundering has been around for a long time. And that's all it is, money laundering. Chinese families are moving assets out of China and into real estate in Western countries in order to evade taxes, evade lawsuits (often for obvious theft) and/or protect themselves from political crackdowns. In Miami, it's South American families doing the same thing to flee unstable or unfavorable regimes in that part of the world. If I were a law-abiding millennial trying to buy a house in one of these markets I would be extremely frustrated. The playing field was a little uneven before (young versus old) but the influx of foreign money has taken it to the next level. The domestic political challenge is that current homeowners have no incentive to stop it because they receive a net benefit from rising home prices. And of course the real estate machine (agents, appraisers, contractors, etc) are all incentivized to ensure it continues. Most economists seem to agree that the best long-term solution is a high land value tax (replacing various other taxes). Let the foreign owners pay 3% of home value each year to local governments - it will encourage them to invest elsewhere, or at least discourage letting properties sit idle. But in the short term house prices in areas like California would fall.