Hi Everyone,

Over the last year or so we've seen a huge shift of Russian buyers' interest to invest in international real estate towards countries that did not impose any sanctions on them (unlike many European countries). Anyway, Russians never lost their appetite for European properties...

Recently, preparing my end-of-the-year report to you on Russian buyers I've come across some surprising numbers from Spain.

- From Mansion Global (the award-winning, premier digital destination for compelling content about the global real estate market): Number of Russian Buyers Surges in Spain

"The number of Russians buying homes in Spain has reached its highest level in almost a decade, according to Spanish notary public data. The number of housing transactions made by Russian nationals in the first half of the year 2023 rose 50% annually, and was the highest number of deals since the first half of 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and came under Western sanctions."

- From The Moscow Times (the Russia's leading, independent English-language media outlet): Russians' Real Estate Deals in Spain Hit Post-Crimea High

"The number of real estate deals made by Russians in Spain in 2023 has reached its highest level since the 2014 annexation of Crimea, the RBC news reported, citing Spanish notary public data."

- From Prian (one of the most popular Russian real estate portals for international properties): Russians on the real estate market in Spain - what, where and why they buy in 2023

This one is a very interesting, long and detailed article in Russian. It pictures a new profile of a typical Russian buyer of Spanish properties which differs now from the pre-sanctions time (in a nutshell, sanctions almost eliminated Russian buyers with rather modest means, but did not affect much the rich).

It's also useful for property sellers in Spain to know that money transactions can be performed without breaking any rules of EU (actually the method might apply to other EU countries?)

I've found online a Russian-speaking travel video-blogger who is in Spanish town of Marbella now, and I can tell you - yes, that it's a real paradise over there in November!

Note: for those of you who are interested in selling your properties in Spain to Russian buyers, I can translate the whole article on request.

Meanwhile, I keep working on my report to you on general trends "Russian Investors and the World in 2023" and will publish it in January 2024 hopefully. If you are interested in Russian real estate buyers in your particular country/area of the world, just email me.

To your best business success,

Sincerely,