When you picture money laundering, you might think offshore islands and shell companies. A new report points somewhere closer to home.
It's the US housing market. The Tax Justice Network, a group that tracks financial secrecy, just ranked America number one for dirty money in real estate.
The group says the problem is secrecy. In much of the US, buyers can hide who they really are.
They do it by holding property through companies and trusts. The public never learns the real owner's name.
Foreign buyers can use the same setup. That keeps their names off public records.
That missing piece is called beneficial ownership. It's the real person behind a purchase, not the company on paper.
When that stays hidden, dirty cash gets easy to park. It can flow into homes, office towers, and shops.
None of that requires breaking US law. The gap is in the rules themselves.
The fix is not complex. Make buyers say who they are.
The group's chief executive put it bluntly. He called the US, in his words, "Zillow for money launderers."
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The group built a new sub-index focused only on real estate. It scores countries on how easy they make it to hide ownership.
Then it weighs that score against the size of each housing market. Bigger markets with weak rules score worse.
The score is not about crime rates. It tracks how easy it is to hide.
Weak rules plus a big market is the worst mix. The US has both.
The US topped the list of 15. Canada came second, Mexico fifth, and the UK eighth.
Australia, India, and the UAE also made the top ten. The pattern is clear: big, rich markets with loose rules.
The UK is preparing to host a summit on dirty money later this year. The report says foreign firms and trusts can still buy in quietly.
The same update also flagged "golden visa" deals. Those let rich foreigners buy the right to live in a country.
That mix can open the door to tax dodging.
This isn't a fringe scorecard. The group says its broader Financial Secrecy Index is used by the IMF, the World Bank, and the FBI.
Agencies like the OECD and the FBI's Five Eyes partners use it too. Banks also lean on it to screen risky money.
The network is an advocacy group. Its report ties the US ranking to recent cuts at US tax and finance watchdogs.
The group argues weaker rules make hiding money easier. It also pushes for tighter global tax rules, so read it with that lens.
Still, the core issue is hard to wave off. The takeaway is plain: hide the buyer, and you hide the cash.
So who pays? In the end, regular buyers and renters do.
Who's allowed to buy US property in secret sits right under the housing fight in Congress. Lawmakers there are debating who can buy homes.
This report asks a quieter question. The bigger gap may be the buyers no one can even see.
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