New LLC Regulations Add Uncertainty to an Already Shaky Luxury Housing Market

Amid the swoons on Wall Street and whispers of a real estate market top, the Treasury Department’s plan to begin identifying anonymous all-cash buyers behind shell companies did not go unnoticed.

The regulations, which go into effect for six months beginning March 1, govern all-cash transactions over $3 million in the borough of Manhattan, requiring title insurance companies to report the names of individual buyers to the government, ostensibly so the government can peel back the veil of anonymity that has allowed foreign buyers to use luxury housing in the city as a storage unit for illegal money.