I have been afraid of this ever since real estate started tanking. If 40% of American are on the edge and another 40% are struggling, then who is left to buy up both residential and commercial real estate? The answer is the very rich, whether they are Americans or not. There are sites that keep track of how much of our property is being bought up by foreigners, and it's very troubling to see they have been swooping in and buying what we can no longer afford for ourselves..