> Well, if that is true, then how do they afford London?
It's just like the jobs. The immigrants are willing to deal with conditions that the natives aren't, for many reasons. For example, I live in NYC Chinatown. There are buildings set up where they section off an entire floor into 8 foot by 8 foot rooms with a shared kitchen & bathroom. Most Americans would never live there but the immigrant Chinese are happy to because it's still an improvement over where they came from.
I used to live in Manhattan Chinatown. Are those places still around? I ask because even Chinatown is becoming increasingly expensive. I think in most of those "studios" the landlord has cashed out and sold the property for redevelopment. No way that even 20 poor immigrants can pay the rent of a single Wall street trader. Also the city was cracking down on those slumlords because most of them were rife with code violations.
Most of those places are gone except for the ones that are actually in the back of a shop or a restaurant. Due to the peculiarities of Chinatown real estate, there are now quite a few buildings redone into condos, sold only to other Chinese people (from China? Flushing? not sure) which are purchased but largely remain empty.
There are still a few that I'm aware of but you're right that luxury buildings are going up. 138 E Broadway and 55 Hester being two of the newest examples.
It's just like the jobs. The immigrants are willing to deal with conditions that the natives aren't, for many reasons. For example, I live in NYC Chinatown. There are buildings set up where they section off an entire floor into 8 foot by 8 foot rooms with a shared kitchen & bathroom. Most Americans would never live there but the immigrant Chinese are happy to because it's still an improvement over where they came from.