Spanish Residency Will Attract More Russian Home Buyers

The Russian ambassador in Madrid, Yuri Korchagin, is convinced that if the Spanish Government provides residence in Spain to home buyers, it will open the way for his countrymen to acquire more properties in the country, which would help reduce the accumulated ‘stock’ of unsold homes.

“Of course there would undoubtedly be more opportunities” he said, commenting on the possibility of the immigration law being reformed in order to grant a residence permit to home buyers on purchases exceeding 160,000 euros, as any Russian who has the legal resources to buy a house in Spain encounters the “obstacle” of the visa, which at the moment they can only obtain for a specific period of time.

The Russian authorities are trying to solve this problem with Spain and the other European countries, and are studying the possibility of abolishing visas or making them easier to obtain for tourism travel, but it is complicated achieving the agreement of all the countries in the Schengen zone which share the borders policy.

In this context, the Spanish idea, already enacted in other States, could encourage more Russian citizens who, although they have only recently “discovered” Spain, have already made it their second tourist destination abroad, after Turkey.

In October a million Russian tourists arrived in Spain, already home to about 600,000, and this figure, says Korchagin, will clearly be exceeded by the year end.

El Mundo reported that, according to the latest official figures, last year Russian citizens bought 1,645 homes in Spain, 7.68% of all properties acquired by foreigners, after the British, French and Germans, and mainly chose properties on the Costa Brava, Levante and the Costa del Sol.

http://www.news.kyero.com/2012/12/27/spanish-residency-will-attract-more-russian-home-buyers/