Russian property investment volumes hit over $5.5bn in the year so far

Russians love for property is well known and although large amounts are being spent abroad, Russian’s are still buying at home as well.

Russian property investment volumes hit over $5.5bn in the year so far, according to Cushman & Wakefield who just published the results of Q3 in investment property market.

- the total volume of investments in Q1-Q3 2012 accounted for $5.52bn
- total volume of investments in retail is more than $2.2bn, this is the historical record-breaker for this segment
- the forecast for 2012 is revised and now the total volume of investments is expect about $7.2bn.

Q3 2012 saw modest investment activity: total volume of investments accounted for $1.22bn that is 33% less compared to Q3 2011 ($1.89bn) and more that 50% less than Q2 2012.

In total year-to-date investments for 2012 accounted for $5.52 bn. This is just 15% less than Q1-3 of record breaking 2011, when we saw $6.39bn of investments.

Alexander Zinkovskiy, Senior Analyst, Research at Cushman & Wakefield comments: "Although we observe the minor deceleration of investment activity, the overall market performance was in line with our expectations, we have increased slightly our forecast and now expect about $7.2bn of investments by the end of 2012".

Alexander Zinkovski, Senior Analyst, Research continues: "This year's performance looks modest, compared to 2011's outcome; however, this does not mean a change in investors' behavior. Still, investors are focused on the best assets and on well-developed markets, which are obviously Moscow and St. Petersburg. Properties of real investment quality are scarce and many of them were transacted in 2011 and 2012. Those investors who are looking for new investment opportunities require some time for this, but still the Russian commercial real estate market keeps its potential."