OREANDA-NEWS Russians are showing more and more interest in buying real estate abroad, Rossiyskaya Gazeta writes, citing the materials of a study conducted by the Financial University on the order of the publication. In two years, the desire to buy a house abroad increased by 70%.

The growth in demand for real estate in some countries far exceeds the average level. Thus, the demand for objects in Turkey has increased in four times during two years, in Bulgaria-2.5 times, in Germany, in Czech Republic, Montenegro and Cyprus — twice. The most popular country for the purchase of real estate remains Bulgaria.

Interest in real estate in most Western European countries remained the same or fell. Only 20% increase in the demand for properties in Spain. At the same level remained and interest in shopping in the near abroad. Only the real estate market in Georgia and Armenia demonstrates the growth of demand among Russians.

"The growth of this indicator shows people’s desire to protect their savings by investing in foreign real estate. At the same time, the level of well — being of Russians still lags far behind the standard of living in other countries, where the ownership of foreign real estate is a fairly common phenomenon," commented the results of the study, Vice — rector of the Financial University Alexei Zubets. Among the residents of large and medium-sized Russian cities, only 2.5% say that they have friends or acquaintances who intend to buy real estate outside of Russia in the near future.

The fall of the Turkish Lira in 2018 provoked a growing interest of foreigners in buying real estate in Turkey. Among the most active buyers were Russians. In May, Russian citizens bought 50% more apartments than a month earlier.

In the first three quarters of 2017, the Russians, according to the Central Bank, spent $775 million on real estate transactions abroad. At the end of 2016, the volume of investments of Russians in foreign real estate amounted to $870 million, in 2015 - $962 million in the period from 2009 to 2012, the Russians purchased real estate abroad in the amount of $6.4 billion.

The largest annual volume of investments of Russians in foreign real estate was noted in 2013-the amount was $2.1 billion, in 2014 it decreased to $2 billion, in summer of 2018, the number of applications for the purchase of real estate abroad among Russians increased by 1.5 times compared to the summer of 2017. According to the consulting company Knight Frank, the most popular real estate in France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Cyprus worth €2-4 million.