The owners of factories and mines used to build neighborhoods and even towns and take the rent out of wages, along with food and supplies bought at the company owned store. Now that was a feudal system. Real estate is the current investment that they think will bring the most return. It also allows them to dump fiat currency into an asset that they feel is safe against inflation. It will be sold when they find the next best investment. I am also seeing real estate being traded like currency. People are selling in high-priced, established areas and buying in up-and-coming areas. When they cash in while selling "high", they overpay a little to buy back in to the "low". A lot of the people who bought in "low" around 2008, have been selling this year.