Are Rich Foreigners to Blame for High Real Estate Prices on the Coasts?

Michael Lewyn says no:

According to a New York Times article about the evils of foreign investment in New York housing, "About $8 billion is spent each year for New York City residences that cost more than $5 million each." Using the magic of long division, I calculate that even if each residence cost only $5 million and not a penny more, there would be 1600 such residences. In fact, some residences cost far more, so the actual number if super-expensive residences is lower (and of course, the number of such residences purchased by foreigners is lower still). In a city with 8 million people (and thus a few million households), a thousand or so really rich people seems to be like a drop in the bucket, even if their wealth does give them disproportionate influence and notoriety. 

Moreover, it seems to me that if New York was really flooded with millions of foreign billionaires, housing prices would be even more expensive than they are. During my last year in New York (2013-14), I lived in a 448-square-foot studio in Midtown and paid $2330 a month in rent  (The same apartment would cost $2680 today). This rent is very expensive by the standards of Planet Earth—but by the standards of Planet Foreign Billionaire Oligarch (FBO), it is nothing. What self-respecting FBO lives in a 450 square foot studio? And what self-respecting FBO pays less than $3000 in rent? I don't know how much FBOs make, but I'm guessing that the median FBO income was at least $10 million per year (1 percent interest of $1 billion in wealth)—which means that any self-respecting FBO should be able to afford $60,000 per month (the price of the most expensive New York apartment I found on zillow.com).