Comment by six2seven

Similarly in Spain. In large cities like Madrid or Barcelona these guys are owning properties, running both small and large businesses and very often avoiding taxes (try to ask in one of small venues for a bill and be sure then to check it). Moreover, quite some properties are Chinese-owned winding up the rental prices for local population, which were already pumped up by popularity of short-term holiday rentals such as AirBnB. These have been pretty well known problems to local population, but nobody up is doing anything about it, since it is an easy and quick money.