OREANDA-NEWS. The volume of investment transactions in the Russian real estate market increased by 24% in the first half of 2019. This is stated in the analytical report of the consulting company JLL. "The volume of investment transactions in the real estate market of Russia in the first half of 2019 amounted to more than $ 1.6 billion, which is 24% higher than the result of the same period of the previous year ($ 1.3 billion)", - noted in the materials.

It's specified that the figure for the second quarter was 13% higher than the level of the same period last year: $ 643 million compared to $ 568 million.

As analysts explained, "investors are stimulated by a positive difference between capitalization rates and the cost of bank financing, which was formed about a year ago for the first time in the history of the commercial real estate market". "The reduction in interest rates combined with the growth of capitalization rates against the background of economic growth observed last year stimulated a steady increase in the activity of investors in Russian real estate", said Olga Shirokova, director of consulting and analytics at Knight Frank.

JLL predicts that the expected reduction in the key rate this year will lead to a further reduction in the cost of financing secured by assets and will have a positive effect on the investment real estate market. According to Irina Ushakova, senior director of the capital markets and investments department of CBRE in Moscow, some large deals are at the final closing stage, which allows us to predict the growth of investments in the third and fourth quarters mainly due to Russian capital. "According to our expectations, the volume of investment in real estate in 2019 could reach 250 billion rubles", - predicts the expert.