This is not the first media mention of an upside-down lifestyle led by a wealthy foreign student attending USC. Nor will it be the last.

In today’s fascinating Wall Street Journal article “Courting the Chinese Buyer,” the paper’s bi-coastal real estate and luxury reporter Lauren A. E. Schuker shares this jaw-dropping tidbit:

Di Meng, a native of Changchun who lives in Beijing, is currently attending the University of Southern California… Not keen to rent student housing, he recently paid around $800,000 for a Ritz-Carlton condo in downtown Los Angeles.

According to Schuker, half of all recent AEG Ritz-Carlton condo sales have been transacted with Asian buyers, including Singapore real estate investor Steven Loh, who bought a half-dozen units for $1 million apiece. Read the full article here.