Oxford University Press has confirmed that Russia’s GDP has approximately doubled since 1999, making Russia the fifth largest economy worldwide. Yet rather than resting on their laurels and enjoying their vamped up spending power, Russian investors are looking to expand their economic empire by securing their funds and gaining financial rewards by investing in UK property.
A testament to the Russians’ spending power and their interest in the UK market is the startling fact that Russians purchased 8.5% of all London properties, worth more than £2m between March 2012 and March 2013. However, it is not only high-end luxury products that are on the shopping list, Russians also continue to keenly snap up new-build properties, with data from estate agents Chesterton Humberts declaring that around 65-70% of new build home purchases in prime London locations came from Russia, China and The Middle East, over the last two years.
The Turkish property market is another market in which Russian investors are particularly active in, having made a total of 1,388 acquisitions in H1 2013, ranking them first in terms of overseas investment, making nearly double the acquisitions of second-placed UK, who made a total of 720 purchases.
This surging interest in overseas properties is exemplified most notably by the increasing attendance rates at property exhibitions showcasing overseas products in the country. The Russian Property Summit held in November last year saw a 15% rise in attending overseas property delegates and even more impressively, a staggering 335% increase in the number of Russian based realtors who attended the networking sessions, representing overseas property companies.
This surge in overseas investments from Russian investors was evident at the recent Pro-Estate International Real Estate Investment Forum in Moscow, with the Knight Knox International exhibitors reporting that they received an extremely high number of serious enquiries.
Following on from this, Knight Knox International is excited ahead of appearing at two Russian exhibitions over a four day period, during a busy November, and hopes to witness the record-breaking attendance rates seen at recent shows, in addition to meeting scores of new Russian clients.
The next event Knight Knox International will be attending in Russia is the Russian Property Summit from the 13th – 14th; this is an agents networking event which will allow the property firm to extend their reach into the Russian market through a series of meetings with agents. On the following two days 15th - 16th November, the exhibitions team will be attending a show focused at investors, the Moscow International Property Show, where they will be showcasing products from the company’s ever-expanding portfolio.
