Russian Overseas Property Continues to Breaks Records

With a background of a buoyant economy, lower un-employment figures, minimal inflation and salaries on the increase, Russian’s, particularly the vast Middle Class sector are investing abroad. This has resulted in a very busy winter buying spree with agents and developers reporting strong sales from Russian investors keen to purchase real estate abroad.

According to a recent survey conducted by 1-property.ru, the top Russian site promoting overseas real estate, 72% of Russians will spend time researching on the internet before traveling abroad to invest in real estate. Property exhibitions and media also offer a helping hand in enabling them to make a final decision.

The 3rd Russian Property Summit held in November in Moscow attracted a 15% increase in overseas property delegates. More surprising was a staggering 335% increase in the number of Russian based realtors who attended the networking sessions, eager to represent foreign property companies.

Over 21, 000 registered visitors attended real estate exhibitions held in Moscow and St. Petersburg in October and November, with Europe still remaining a popular choice for investors.

The top 40 most searched destinations for Russians according to 1-property.ru did not change much over the year with Bulgaria and Spain remaining at the top followed by Italy, Turkey, Montenegro, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, France and the Czech Republic.

Whilst the market is dominated by Moscow (40%) and St. Petersburg (10%) there has been a marked increase from the regions of Russia which now account for 50% of all visitors on 1-property.ru. The site is attracting over 5,000 unique visitors per day from all over the Russian Federation.

According to the Russian Property Summit’s organiser Ashley Rigg from GlobleEdge UK, ‘the conclusion from this year’s conference was that Russian buyers have funds but are among the most astute and cautious investors around. They are more likely to consider larger developments with water views (ideally with beach access) and top class facilities including 24 hour concierge and security, especially if they are within 45 minutes from an airport.’

Event organisers and publishers aiGroup’s CEO Kim Waddoup said, “The Russian middle class is growing extremely fast and they now have disposable income. They have renovated their apartments; many have a house in the country and a nice car, so now they are looking for property abroad! ‘

‘My predictions for 2013 are a constant increase with the value of individual sales increasing within the next 12 months. It will be a good year for those developers and agents that specialise in the Russian market, and can handle Russian speaking investors back in their own countries. We will be hosting five major international exhibitions in the spring to cope with demand,” concludes Waddoup.

Print media has also benefitted in this present boom, with a record 164 pages published this autumn by International Resident, Russia’s No 1 Overseas Property magazine.

Svetlana Andryukina their editor said “It is a well-recognised fact that Russians still love to read printed magazines. Over the years we have created a vast network of exclusive outlets that enable us to place our publication directly into the hands of wealthy Russians. The spring issue is already in progress and it looks likely to be our biggest issue to date.

aiGroup is helping to educate the international real estate industry in the best methods to successfully attract some of the predicted Billions of funds that are being spent on property abroad. ”Kim Waddoup said,

‘We do welcome new exhibitors and advertisers, however to be successful everyone needs to understand that selling to Russians, although profitable needs careful forward planning.’

‘Russians are unlikely to speak your language, or to be able to read non-Russian brochures, and they need to be aware of your brand, before you can seriously gain their confidence. Advance advertising, on site Russian speaking staff is all essential for a developer to succeed here. We now have over 7,000 members of the property industry all over the world taking our newsletters which explain how to market real estate successfully,’ concluded Waddoup.’

About the aiGroup:
The aiGroup is the market leader in Russia for property abroad with 9 exhibitions per year, the leading overseas property Magazine, International Residence and Russia’s most popular overseas property portal 1-property.ru.