With the German 10-year bund yield going negative I am reminded of this article. "Paying someone in order to lend them money seems kind of pointless. Yet, the practice of stashing wealth in places where it yields nothing (and maybe even costs a bit for storage) is more common than you might think. Chinese, Russians, and Brazilians, for instance, buy US and Canadian condos and leave them empty as a way of moving their money beyond the reach of their rapacious governments."