Hi Everyone,

The spring season of international real estate exhibitions in Russia is over and it's time to look at some results.

International Residence, the leading Russian international property magazine, has just released their survey taken during the Moscow International Investment Show held in March 2011.

This prestigious show attracted 181 companies from 29 countries, and just over 6,800 Russian visitors. This was a record number of investors, for this 8th edition of the two day event.

International Residence conducted their own survey at the show, randomly selecting 499 visitors to answer questions, providing a broad cross section of the market of Russian buyers of international real estate in Moscow and the Moscow regions.

There was a noted shift in the actual amount that buyers were prepared to invest with most popular amount selected by over 40% being between EU100,000 to 250,000. However over 10.5% questioned were planning to spend in excess of EU500,000, a large rise over previous shows.

The most popular choice for buying international real estate was in Bulgaria, followed closely by Spain, with third place going to Turkey. 66% of the surveyed Russian buyers of international real estate said they were looking for apartments and 49% planned to buy in the next 12 months.

Only 27% said they were buying as an investment and as many as 53% were buying for leisure purposes.

AI Group CEO and organiser of the exhibition Kim Waddoup said, "After what has been a fairly tough time for all of us working in the global real estate industry, the attendance figures at our show and the results of the magazine's survey, certainly indicate that although Russian investors remain cautious, they are most certainly investing again. This has to be most encouraging for our future events planned in 2011."

Here's the full text of the above mentioned survey:

International Residence magazine conducted a survey at the Moscow International Investment Show 11 and 12 March 2011. From the 6,800+ attendees 499 investors were randomly selected to answer questions providing a broad cross section of the market in Moscow and the Moscow regions.

1. Is this your first visit to the Moscow International Investment Show?

Yes 54%
No 46%

2. Have you attended any other overseas property shows?

Yes 46%
No 54%

3. Can you name these shows?

Moscow International Property Show 42%
DomExpo 19%
Crocus 14%
Moscow Golf Show 13%
Vtoroj dom 7%
Regional Russian exhibitions 5%

4. Please advise the three countries that are of most interest?

Bulgaria 24.8%
Spain 21%
Turkey 11%
Germany 10.2%
Italy 7%
Montenegro 6.6%
Czech Republic 5.7%
Finland 3.7%
France 2.5%
UAE 2.5%
Cyprus 2%
Egypt 2%

Thailand, Austria, Latvia, England, Albania, Greece, Croatia, Slovenia, Sweden, Norway, Portugal – 1%

5. What is your aim for buying overseas property?

Leisure 53%
Investment 27%
Place of residence 12%
Business 8%

6. What is your approximate budget?

Under EU100,000 29%
EU100,000 to 250,000 40.5%
EU250,000 to 500,000 20%
More than EU500,000 10.5%

7. What type of property are you looking for?

Apartment 66%
House/villa 26%
Office 8%

8. When are you looking to buy?

Within 12 months 41%
During the next year 59%

9. Do you read any magazines for overseas property?

Yes 77%
No 33%

10. Can you name the magazines?

International Residence 56%
Homes Collection 12%
Nedvizhimost & Ceni 10%
Digest Nedvizhimosti 9%
Mir and Dom 8%
Salon Nedvizhimosti 5%

11. Do you use internet for overseas property search?

Yes 80%
No 20%

12. Can you name a portal that specializes in overseas property?

1-property 65%
Prian 13%
Don’t know 22%

Survey was conducted independently in Moscow on 11 and 12 March 2011 and is the courtesy of International Residence magazine.

To your best business success,

Sincerely,