Are the rich secretly hoarding their wealth in Seattle's luxury condos?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Seattle housing prices have been rising for years, a trend often attributed to a booming tech industry and a reverse flight of wealthy Americans back into city centers.

But in Seattle there’s another unsettling force besides: global capital.

Across the world, skyscrapers and mansions are rising in globalized supercities, and they’re becoming a form of “wealth storage” for rich people seeking to diversify their asset holdings. These often anonymous millionaires and billionaires are helping turn Seattle into another “Swanktuary city.”

This isn’t your grandmother’s gentrification. The world’s wealthiest people hold a greater concentration of the world’s riches now than at any time in at least the past century — and they’re hiding anywhere from $8 trillion to $15 trillion from taxing authorities.

Not all of this wealth is idly lounging on some sandy Caribbean tax shelter. A large portion touches down to Earth in the form of luxury real estate. London, New York, San Francisco and Vancouver have been grappling with luxury housing disruption for decades. And as Seattle is also vulnerable.

https://crosscut.com/2019/11/are-rich-secretly-hoarding-their-wealth-seattles-luxury-condos?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter-web-button

[LakeArenal]

1. I don't know about condos but...

Here in Costa Rica it’s nearly impossible to buy a house or fancy car due to US money laundering. We had to jump through a million hoops to transfer less than $20,000 to open a bank account. Even then it was on a thirty day hold after our bank sent it.
Every time you purchase something big you have to use a credit card and show your passports.