It's not just capital controls. There is a lot of fraud in China that ends up being laundered in real estate here in Canada:

http://theprovince.com/business/real-estate/mysterious-wheel...

Strictly speaking it's not a way to avoid capital controls (which means limits on how much money you can take out of the country). It's a place to put money that has already escaped capital controls.

Not just China. Walking around the wealthiest areas of London I sometimes get a sickening feeling when I think about their occupants. The most beautiful houses and essentially palaces are largely owned by people who have raped their countries. Russians, Saudis, Qataris, Chinese oligarchs and politicians who are very successful thieves.

These are mostly empty apart from a couple of months when the princes of the middle east come to escape the heat. I find it very sad to see things of such beauty being occupied by people who have stolen a countries wealth away from their poorest.