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Where Russians Buy Real Estate: An Overview of 2022 and Prospects for 2023

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The geopolitical environment that developed in 2022 has led to a formidable surge in Russians’ demand for foreign real estate. According to Prian, the number of queries for purchase of foreign residential property has increased 2.3 times over the year, with nearly 80% demand converting into real deals.

Read our article about what properties were most popular to buy among Russians in 2022 and what experts forecast for the year of 2023.

Why Did It Happen? Geopolitical and Other Reasons

Geopolitics, world conflicts, and natural disasters have been affecting the real estate market and investment opportunities for more than three years already. However, the year of 2022 demonstrated a real clamor for foreign real estate, as the respective demand has more than doubled.

The fluctuation of demand has been discernible throughout the year, but while it was moderate in January and February (the COVID-19 pandemic was reluctantly coming to a close), the market just spiked in March. A second upsurge occurred in mid autumn (geopolitical reasons are apparent in both cases).

According to Prian, nearly 75% Russian customers bought foreign residences with a view to relocation in 2022. In 2021, the share of such buyers was 55%. According to Philip Berezin, Editor-in-Chief of Prian.ru, the share of those who bought ‘a house by the sea in order to vacate there once in a while’ has significantly decreased. Now people buy housing abroad for permanent residence (relocation) more and more often. Besides, the number of investment operations when residential buildings are bought for the purpose of further renting or resale keeps growing.

According to NF Group, the major goal of well-off Russians when purchasing property abroad is a permanent residency or a citizenship. Immigrant programs of Turkey and Cyprus were most popular in 2022. Henley & Partners states that, in spite of the suspension of many citizenship or permanent residency (by investment) programs for Russians, the rest of the countries took up the whole quantity of requests. These are programs of Grenada, Turkey, Montenegro, Italy, Portugal, Cyprus, Serbia, Bulgaria, and the UAE.

Approximately 15% affluent buyers from Russia choose foreign real estate as investments. The most popular countries in this category are the UAE (Dubai and Abu Dhabi emirates) and Turkey (Istanbul). The remaining 7% consider residential property purchase both for living and for investments. The experts noted that the UAE is the most popular location in this category.

2022 Most Popular Targets

The principal interest of Russians was in countries with open borders that allow for a long stay in their territory if certain conditions are met. Turkey and the UAE are in the highest demand, but there are also upward trends with regard to some European countries.

Analysts from Prian.ru highlight Turkey, the UAE, Georgia, Montenegro, Thailand, and Bulgaria among the most desirable countries. Irina Mosheva, a Russian partner of Savills, an international trading company, also adds Indonesia to this list. Besides, according to her story, clients consider investments in Oman and Qatar increasingly frequently.

Turkey’s unchallenged leadership is even more impressive percentage-wise: more than 40% requests were submitted for objects in this very country. Turkish real estate has been most popular among Prian users since 2020.

Visa-free (including for Russia) countries demonstrate a notable growth in demand. The highest dynamics is in the UAE (throughout the course of the year), Thailand and Indonesia (mostly in autumn), as well as Israel. The number of requests has more than doubled in Georgia and Montenegro. The UAE is a champion (4.5 times increase in demand).

European countries were mostly losing ground, although losing in the ranking does not mean a decrease in the number of requests. It is only evidenced in particular countries (Germany, Czech Republic, Latvia). The number of requests related to the USA has dropped, too.

Top 30 countries for buying real estate abroad. Ranking by Prian.ru

On the other hand, the number of requests for South European countries (Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece) has increased. Cyprus turned out to be a leader as the permanent residency program keeps working there: in 2022, residential property there was looked into twice as often as in 2021.

Marina Shalaeva, Executive Partner of Parus Real Estate, confirms that there were 14% of all requests concerning Cyprus, 8% for Portugal, 6% for Greece, 4% for Malta, Spain, and Great Britain respectively.


 Top countries in terms of requests from Russian buyers in 2022 (credit: NF Group)

The interest in real estate in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece, and Cyprus, as estimated by Prian.ru, has increased by 15-20% within the year.

‘European countries are less accessible for Russians due to problems with transfer of funds and “toxicity” of Russian passports, but most of those who already have a second passport or a permanent residency in one of European countries do not really have such problems’, Mr. Berezin explains.

According to Prian estimates, most Russians (70%) were looking for options up to €100,000 and 20% up to €300,000. Only 2.5% potential buyers considered options at a price of more than €1,000,000. As explained by Elena Marinicheva, the minimum budget for buying foreign real estate in 2022 started from $100,000. ‘One could find income-generating projects for this amount in Thailand, Turkey, and Georgia, and, what’s interesting, as for two last options, such an investment opens the door for a permanent residency in the country. In the UAE, the threshold will be higher, depending on the emirate: starting from $180,000 in Ras Al Khaimah and from $205,000 in Dubai’, the expert exemplified.

A Forecast for 2023: What Countries Will Be Popular Among Russians?

Russians’ high interest in real estate abroad lasts in 2023, too. So, Russians took the first place again among foreign buyers of residential property in Turkey in 2023.

According to Prian, early in 2023, Top 5 popular countries for buying real estate among Russians were Turkey, the UAE, Georgia, Montenegro, and Thailand. The demand for housing in Bulgaria is roughly on a par with the last three countries. This is due to permanent residency programs prevailing in these countries.

For example, in Turkey, property purchase is one of the grounds for acquiring a long-term residence permit with a subsequent right to be qualified for citizenship. In the UAE, there is no such thing as a permanent residency. Instead, there is a long-term, visa-requiring permission to stay there that is granted for investments in the country, including acquisition of real estate. The validity of the visa hinges on its price.

In Georgia, one can get a permanent residency for investments in real estate in the amount of $100,000 and more, provided that it is possible to purchase one or several pieces of property in the primary or secondary market and to buy them on credit.

Credit: pexels.com

In order to get a permanent residency in Montenegro, housing prices do not matter but one condition—there must be no encumbrances (a loan or a mortgage). A permanent residency is granted for one year with an option to extend, but it does not entitle anyone to work in Montenegro or to qualify for a settled domicile.

In order to get a permanent residency (and a settled domicile) on Cyprus, one needs to buy a house or an apartment from a property developer, i.e. a piece of property in new construction. The required price of the property must be more than 300,000 euros. If a property owner acquired resale property before May 7, 2013, they may also be qualified for a settled domicile.

As for European countries, in spite of the current geopolitical environment, Russian buyers will hold their interest in buying residential property there. What cities and countries will be most popular? PwC analysts made a ranking of the most advantageous large European cities in terms of their investment prospects in 2023. The experts examined a wide range of factors that affect the property price and the respective forecasts. According to this ranking, leading positions are as follows:

  • London. As estimated by the analysts, it turned out to be the most attractive European city, having taken 1st place. London was at its zenith last year, too, and in 2022 the capital of Great Britain even took a foothold.

  • Paris took 2nd place. In 2022, Paris beated Berlin that used to be in 2nd place. Analysts note that the inflation rate in France is not as high as in Germany. At the same time, office market figures in Paris have improved this year.

  • Berlin took 3rd place, having degraded as compared to the previous year. Inflation and dependency on Russian energy supplies took their toll on the German economy, experts believe.

  • Madrid took 4th ranking spot, having significantly improved its figures in comparison with the previous year. ‘In spite of all COVID-19 circumstances and intensified inward migration, Madrid urbanization was going well underway’, the report says. Besides, Spain wins by force of development of solar and wind power engineering, which will let the country secure from possible power failures that are expected in Europe in 2023.

  • Munich took 5th place, having taken the wall of other cities—Munich’s position was the same in 2021. This large Bavarian city cannot outrun Berlin yet because the German capital attracts a lot of investments, both domestic and foreign ones.

At the same time, International Investment experts note that some European countries are currently insecure for Russian investors, that is why one should be careful when buying real estate there.

In Lieu of Summary

The rules of the foreign real estate market have changed conceptually for Russians this year and are still changing. Difficulties for Russian citizens in buying property abroad under current conditions are related to global changes of the investment map, an inability to transfer funds without restraint, and a number of restrictions because of sanctions.

In this context, so-called friendly nations such as the UAE and Turkey are and will be the most popular countries for purchasing real estate next year.

That notwithstanding, despite the popularity of such locations as the UAE and Turkey, many Russians are mentally Europe-oriented and still buy real estate in the EU. Therefore, European real estate is still on-trend for high-income Russians, just like in 2022. However, one cannot but take into account the factor of the geopolitical environment changed and purchasing limitations in a number of countries. All of these things are of utmost importance to consider when promoting European real estate among Russians.

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About the Author

Digital Strategist. Head of one of the project groups at RMAA. Maria started her journey in digital marketing in 2009. 

Author Maria Romanenko

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