just like Silicon Valley. Locals save and save but when they get ready to buy, the prices have gone up due to all cash offers from Mainland China whose buyers are buying sight unseen for god knows what reasons.
The only solution may be to require such foreign buyers to publish their real names instead of some shell Hong Kong or Cayman Island companies. If the buyer is a corrupt official using bribe money or a crooked businessman hiding black money, making this information public to the PRC Govt/ people, could get them investigated. This should dissuade people using ill gotten gains to inflate house prices here causing a speculation bubble. If they are legitimate, then there should be nothing to fear.