Hi Everyone,

It's too hard to say now how the recent crisis around Ukraine will develop and make any predictions on its effect on Russian buyers of international real estate, but here are some opinions that were found in March 2014 publications so far:

Yahoo News: "Since 2012, one billion dollars in residential real estate in the United States has been purchased by Russian buyers… If full blown economic sanctions are issued the pain could become very real… that also cuts of a major source of funding to the American real estate market... Similarly, much of Europe would be affected…"

The Wall Street Journal: "European countries worry that business would suffer if sanctions against Russia escalate…The currency markets are already destabilized, even without a strong sanction program… The Russian currency has declined approximately 9% so far against the dollar since January and economists expect that it will remain under pressure as the conflict goes on… In recent years, cash-rich Russians have snapped up prime vacation homes along the Mediterranean coast. But, political uncertainties have already led to potential new Russian buyers delaying purchases until currency fluctuations stabilize…" and so forth and so on…

Anyway we know that money doesn't like instability and usually flows out of such regions to some more comfortable places... It means that more Russians and Ukrainians would like to invest in real estate in foreign countries as the way to preserve their money.

On the other hand, if some foreign countries would impose certain sanctions and restrictions on Russian buyers (not issuing visas and not allowing using their credit cards, etc.), these countries might lose Russian buyers for their real estate who might turn to other more welcoming countries with no restrictions instead. This way some countries that were not so popular among Russian buyers in the past might have a window of new opportunities to attract more Russian buyers for their properties.

Also, we have to remember that actually under the name "Russian buyers" citizens of a number of Russian-speaking countries usually go as well (Ukraine, Kazakhstan, etc.), and there are no sanctions against them whatsoever, so they will keep buying international properties, so keep advertising to reach them as usual.

Need help with promoting your international properties for sale to Russian buyers? It's just an email away!

To your best business success,

Sincerely,