Citizens of the Russian Federation buy more and more housing in Europe. Cyprus and malt are especially popular

The demand of Russians for the purchase of residential real estate in Europe, according to the results of the first nine months of 2018, increased by 12.5% ​​to the same period last year, Kommersant writes with reference to the company's data in Knight Frank.

According to representatives of Knight Frank, the number of transactions with foreign housing did not grow in all markets, but mainly due to Cyprus and Malta, where the number of Russian requests for real estate increased by 35% and 30%, respectively. As the director of private investment and foreign real estate Knight Frank, Marina Shalaeva, noted, the popularity of Malta and Cyprus is largely explained by the programs operating on the islands that allow real estate owners to get a passport quite quickly.

"In the programs for providing a residence permit of other countries, a passport can be obtained for 5-8 years, the deadlines in Cyprus are much shorter: about six months after the application is submitted, 12 months in Malta," Shalaeva said.

In turn, the head of the foreign department of Kalinka Group Anastasia Demidova-Zenonos clarified that now many customers are interested in buying real estate in Cyprus worth 2 million euros-such an amount of investment is necessary to obtain a country's passport.

Another factor in the growth of housing in Cyprus experts call the speedy completion of the program exempting VAT on a transaction for the purchase of real estate in some household marins - in 2019, housing can be bought there, provided that VAT is paid in the amount of 19%.

At the same time, Russians' interest in housing in the UK from January to September decreased by 10%. According to Kalinka Group, this is due to an unfavorable news background. In addition, according to Shalaeva, the reason for the fall of demand was a constant increase in tax burden for owners of expensive housing in the UK. So, ten years ago, buying a house worth 10 million pounds was taxed in the amount of 400 thousand, and now it is 1.4 million.

Recall that in early October it was reported that over the past five years, the Russians spent over 155 million euros on the purchase of real estate in Greece as part of the Golden Visa program, which allows a residence permit in this country. Shortly before this, it became known that in the summer of 2018, Russians bought 1.5 times more foreign real estate than last year.