News Digest (1-15 March, 2014)

News Digest (1-15 March, 2014)

In the first half of March portal ee24.com offered its readers the results of our own large-scale studies of European markets, and also informed about the benefits of buying property in popular Balkan countries. Besides, we have not ignored topics that have become traditional for our news block: these are residence permit, celebrities’ housing and unusual properties for sale.

In order to tell the readers in what European countries the Russians want to buy real estate, our SEO-specialists made a research of search requests in "Yandex", a leading search engine and the most popular site in Russia. It turned out that the Russians look for real estate in Bulgaria, Spain and Montenegro, but neighboring Latvia, which provides a residence permit when buying low-cost housing, failed to enter the top ten. In the analytical article we highlighted not only the Russians’ favorite countries, but also leading regions and cities in search requests.

It is great when desire of buying property is caused not only by dreams about a good living, but also by the investment attractiveness of a selected country. Completely different countries got into the top-10 of countries for property investment in 2014: such Southern countries as Spain, Greece and Cyprus, and the Northern ones, such as Finland or Germany.

A separate analytical article on ee24.com was dedicated to Germany. This country is an island of security in the crisis years, and price increase in Germany is expected for all types of liquid real estate. Good prospects for the German market only warm up the demand. Even the Germans, who always preferred renting housing, have started to save money in real estate.

The Balkan countries can also offer something to a customer. Neighbors on the Adriatic coast, sunny Croatia and Montenegro, unlike Germany, can boast a warm and clean sea, magnificent beaches and great climate. The portal readers figured out where and for how much you can buy housing on the Budva Riviera in Montenegro and learned why it is worth having a look at Istria, Croatia which is as good as traditional tourist destinations, Split and Dubrovnik.

Which countries do former and current well-known politicians choose to live in? Who of the power players lives in a modest apartment, who lives in a palace and who buys up luxury villas? You can read and see in a large-scale study on ee24.com where Elizabeth II, Vladimir Putin, Silvio Berlusconi, Angela Merkel and other politicians live.

In early March, the portal readers learned about the most significant changes that have occurred in the European markets of luxury real estate. In 2013, Munich, London and Chamonix became leaders of price growth. Vienna, Madrid and Monaco can also boast increased buyers’ interest in luxury real estate, while in Milan and Sardinia there is the opposite trend. Now for $1 million you can buy only 15 square meters of elite property in Monaco, 25 sq.m in London and 35 sq.m in Geneva.

Property in Bulgaria is more affordable, and the Russians benefit from it. Last year they have purchased 10 thousand houses and apartments. Now, according to various calculations, from 300,000 to 400,000 Russians have property in Bulgaria. It is expected that the tension between Russia and new Ukrainian authorities will have a positive impact on the Bulgarian market, strengthening citizens' interest to it in both conflicting countries.

Europe continues counting revenue from providing residence permit to property buyers. Portugal, which managed to bring €336 million to the economy in 2013, is expecting €500-600 million of investment, and that is why it is actively promoting the opportunities of "golden visa" in foreign exhibitions. Latvia is also actively "churning out" documents: 916 foreigners received residence permits in January and February 2014. This is more than the annual quota, which was planned to be established by the parliament and rejected by the President.

Foreign real estate continues to surprise. We got used to the sales of castles and islands, but opportunity of buying a stadium or an airport is still a novelty. Meanwhile, in central London, an entire subway station has been sold. The station was closed to passengers before the World War II. The transaction price was €64.6 million, the buyer’s name is not disclosed.