Russia GRI 2016, the 10th annual forum, which brings together leaders of the Russian and European property markets, took place in Moscow yesterday.
AVICA CEO Natalia Tischendorf addressed the forum’s keynote session on investing in commercial real estate in Russia.
In her speech, Ms Tischendorf noted that despite the economic and country risks Westerners were still interested in investing in Russian real estate. “The decrease in competition and in the cost of finished office and retail facilities by 30-50 percent on average is making investments relatively attractive. Bearing in mind the stabilisation of exchange rates and of the market as a whole, we expect returns on investment to reach the USD 2 billion mark in 2016,” said the expert.
Today, Morgan Stanley, Hines, PPF, Mudabala and a number of Chinese investors are actively considering purchasing new assets, primarily in the Moscow Region. Ms Tischendorf forecast that by the end of 2016 a number of major deals involving foreign investors worth up to USD 500 million would be closed.
The participants agreed that Russia’s commercial property market was one of the biggest in the world and remained attractive to foreign investors.