Bloomberg recently reported on the return of the high-end real estate market throughout the US in those markets that are traditionally popular for the foreign elite, including perhaps the most conspicuous spending Russians. Although these purchases might make long-term investment sense, it seems the primary motivation is a more simple one: to one-up their peer oligarchs.

This goes hand-in-hand with our experience on the EB-5 market as affluent investors use the EB-5 program to gain permanent residency in the United States to either enjoy their newly bought mansions, send their children to school in the US, or leave themselves an escape hatch in the event things get dicey back in the motherland.