Russia is preparing total restrictions on the purchase and rental of housing by foreigners - only by special resolution

Foreigners will not be able to buy or rent housing in Russia without special permission. Such a bill is prepared in the Ministry of Economic Development. It is assumed that the law will begin to operate already from the 1st quarter of 2015, the Russian newspaper reports on Wednesday. According to the publication, work on the bill has been underway since October 2012.

Currently, for foreign individuals and legal entities, as well as stateless persons, a number of restrictions are already in force, the Ministry of Economic Development recalled. In particular, they are forbidden to acquire “land plots located in the border territories, agricultural land, plots within the borders of sea ports, as well as intended for the placement of transport infrastructure, for the defense of the country and state security,” the explanatory letter of the ministry.

Work on the document continues, and at the moment, in order to finalize it, they were sent to the Ministry of Regional Development, the Foreign Ministry, the FSB, the FMS, the Ministry of Justice "Requests with a request to submit proposals under the bill within its competence," the Ministry of Economic Development said.

The restriction of demand for apartments both from the point of view of purchase and from the point of view of foreigners is unlikely to seriously hit the housing market, said Oleg Rephenko, head of the analytical center of the real estate market indicators.

Despite the fact that there are many foreigners acquire expensive real estate, and on the other hand, many migrants rent cheap apartments on the outskirts of cities, prices are unlikely to fall in case of introduction of restrictions.

“At the same time, there are two sides of the medal. As for the purchase of an apartment, the introduction of restrictions and prohibitions is capable of cutting solvent demand, but not more than 5%, by force - by 10%. Such restrictions are unlikely to affect the cost of a square meter. Another question is housing. This market is still in many ways to remain shadow, and it will be very good,” he explained the RG.

The real estate expert Artem Tsogoev is in solidarity: “I think, the demand will not be for apartments below. We have areas like Lublin, which are now slowly turning into such enclaves (ethnic. - Ed.). People are purchasing apartments there to rent them, in fact, to merchants from nearby markets. But I think that our laws are still our laws “Good” by the fact that they can be bypassed or not to execute, and, accordingly, this will not affect the market much, ”said the expert of Kommersant -FM .

On the eve of Izvestia, citing a representative of the Ministry of Economic Development, Vladimir Zatomsky, was informed that the reason for the sale of a bill to the development of a bill on the sale or lease of real estate to foreigners will be decided by the authorized body, the thesis from the Epistle of President Vladimir Putin to the Federal Assembly in December 2012. Then the president said: "We will not allow the appearance of closed ethnic enclaves in Russia with its informal jurisdiction, living outside the country's single legal and cultural field, with a challenge to ignore generally accepted norms, laws and rules."

The publication clarified that the authorized body will make the decision to sell or rent to foreigners to foreigners. Which is still unknown. According to Izvestia, the bill will be formed within two weeks. The document proposes to introduce the term "separate category of persons", transactions with representatives of which will be considered as part of the "permits". It is proposed to include foreign citizens and legal entities to the "separate category". In addition, people without citizenship, as well as Russian companies, in the authorized capital of which the above categories have 50% or more, want to take special control.

It should be noted that the RG and Izvestia have information about when the development of the bill began and at what stage it is currently, they are somewhat vary.