A Sore Spot in L.A.’s Housing Crisis: Foreign-Owned Homes Sitting Empty
San Marino, California—an affluent suburb of Los Angeles—immaculately maintained million-dollar homes sit vacant, their owners residing thousands of miles away in China. This phenomenon has persisted for years as international buyers, particularly from China, invested in U.S. real estate. However, since Beijing imposed stricter currency controls in 2018, foreign purchases have waned. Now, with thousands displaced by the Palisades and Eaton fires searching for housing, the issue of vacant properties—once considered a minor aspect of the real estate market—has come under scrutiny. "Why are there so many vacant homes when people are struggling to find housing?" asks Ashleigh Rader, a Pasadena real estate agent with Compass. She is currently assisting multiple clients who lost their homes in the fires and sees unoccupied properties as a lost opportunity to provide much-needed shelter. Many vacant homes in Los Angeles County are owned domestically, often by individuals who inhe...