Russian buyers of foreign property have become discouraged with Turkey, but have started to return to European markets. According to local experts, buying European property is once again relevant for Russians.
At the same time, the priority destinations are now: Cyprus, Spain and Hungary.
More and more investors are putting money into real estate, not only to obtain a European residence permit, but also to invest profitably.
The increase in demand for property in Europe is due to the purpose of obtaining a residence permit. Here, Russians prefer Cyprus, which accepts applications from Russian citizens without restrictions and offers the possibility of obtaining a residence permit for property investment from 300,000 euros. Russians are also showing increased interest in Hungary's recently launched "golden visa" programme, which allows you to obtain a residence permit in the EU country in exchange for investments in funds and real estate - experts say.
Many experts also point out that obtaining a residence permit is no longer the main reason for buying property, as investment interest is gradually taking over. The change in demand in European markets is directly related to the decline in the share of clients who consider property as a tool for obtaining a residence permit - in the first half of 2024 with such a purpose applied to 38% fewer clients, it is 19% of all applications. At the same time, there has been a 41% increase in the proportion of people who want to buy a property for independent holidays and letting.
The key trend in the first half of 2024 - in changes in the purpose of buying property: the demand for buying property to obtain a residence permit or citizenship has decreased and the demand for buying housing for living and renting has increased - experts say.
Remember that Cyprus is the only country in the EU that grants permanent residence permits not only to investors, but also to spouses and children under the age of 18, without an interview, medical examination, language test or residence requirement.
The investment threshold in this case is 300 thousand euros. It should be noted that Russian citizens prefer to buy comfortable one or two bedroom apartments in Cyprus, ranging from 50m2 to 80m2 in the city centre, 5-10 minutes walk from the coast. In Paphos, the average value of a transaction with Russians in the first quarter of 2024 was 300 thousand euros, in Limassol the average transaction value was significantly higher - 500 thousand euros.