In ur Kenyan real estate market, launderin ur moneys:

The hike in real estate prices in the Kenyan capital has prompted a public outcry and a government investigation this month into property owned by foreigners. The investigation follows allegations that millions of dollars in ransom money paid to Somali pirates are being invested in Kenya, Somalia’s southern neighbor and East Africa’s largest economy.

Even as housing prices have dropped sharply in the United States, prices in Nairobi have seen two- and three-fold increases the last half decade.

“There is suspicion that some of the money that is being collected in piracy is being laundered by purchase of property in several countries, this one being one of them,” said government spokesman Alfred Mutua.

Kenya, which shares a border with Somalia, has proved an ideal place to park some of that ransom cash; they are only now even starting to contemplate passing a law against money laundering. And the pirates make it easy for Kenyans to do the deals:

A real estate agent who spoke only on condition he wasn’t identified so as not to draw the wrath of Somali customers said some Somali businessmen pay double a property’s worth just to easily and quickly complete the sale… because of a huge rise in property prices, a four-bedroom home in Karen that would have sold for $200,000 five years ago sells for $500,000 today.

Hey, maybe we should try to interest them in some US condos! It’d be one way to try to reinflate our housing bubble, and I think they could make locations like Miami work. Not sure they’d be the best neighbors with all the squawking parrots or whatnot, but then you have to consider, how often are they going to be home instead of out on the high seas, making ransom bank? If you’ve got a home on the coast, try listing it as having an aviary, rum cellar, “hook-friendly accessibility enhancements for doorknobs and fixtures” and a deepwater dock and let me know if you get any overseas interest.