Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office just a few months after 9/11. As New Yorkers started to rebuild, the Mayor quickly re-zoned the city, leaving much more land for residential real estate.
Much of the new construction included luxury buildings. As the city skyline changed, so did the people buying those high-priced apartments.
According to a new investigation co-authored by Louise Story, investigative reporter for Takeaway partner The New York Times, last year more than $8 billion dollars were spent on New York condos costing $5 million dollars or more—triple the amount of just a decade ago.
However, back in 2013, Mayor Bloomberg claimed this investment was good for the city.
"We've been able to do something that none of these other cities can do, and that is attract some of the very wealthy from around the city and around the world," he told listeners on his call-in WOR radio show. "And they are the ones that pay a lot of the taxes, they're the ones that spend a lot of money in the stores and the restaurants and create a big chunk of our economy. And we take the tax revenue from those people and help people throughout the entire rest of the spectrum."
He later noted, "If we could get every billionaire from around the world to move here, it would be a godsend!"
But Story's new investigation presents a much more complicated picture: A number of foreign buyers are using luxury real estate in New York and elsewhere throughout the country to hide corrupt dealings and billions of dollars.