Feds Make Real Estate Auction Rules

The government intends to impose controls on the modernization and reconstruction by private investors of federal real estate managed by federal state unitary enterprises and the subsequent privatization of those properties. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov signed a resolution last week requiring that any transaction with federal real estate worth more than 150 million rubles be competitive and subject to the approval of the government. Capital investments over 500 million rubles in federal real estate will also require the government's permission.

Real estate prices soar in Sochi

Real estate is selling like hot cakes in Sochi, where prices have been growing annually by 20%-30% in the last few years. Unlike local residents, who buy housing seldom and cheaply, rich Russians from Moscow, St. Petersburg and the country's oil-bearing provinces view real estate on the Black Sea coast as good investment. Before the IOC chose the venue among three candidates - Sochi (Russia), Salzburg (Austria) and PyeongChang (South Korea) - one hectare (2.5 acres) of land in Sochi cost approximately $10 million, and flats were sold at $3,000 per square meter in block houses and $7,000-$8,000 in elite housing.

Vester To Sell Real Estate

Russia - Retail major Vester Group is set to sell its non-core assets and trading centres, estimated at over $150m. According to local reports, Vester has recently sold its Avicenna pharmacy chain in Kaliningrad for $1.0m, and a trading centre for $15m. The reports said Vester plan to use the proceeds as investment to attain its stated objective of touching $2.2bn in turnover by late 2008. Vester had announced the sale of non-core assets earlier this year. Other retail assets include the Knigi & Knizhechki booksellers (10 outlets), the Monte Cristo jewellery chain (19 outlets), several furniture and sports shops and an electric appliance retail chain.

The Moscow region's warehousing market keeps struggling

In recent months the market has witnessed a new wave of interest on the part of investors and developers as they seek to grab a slice in what looks as one of the most promising real estate niches in Moscow and its surroundings in many years to come.
Norway's Eastern Property fund has raised $350 million it plans to invest into Russian real estate. The funds will be used to acquire six office buildings, two shopping centers and two warehouses in the next 12 months. "Triple net rental rates for Class A warehouse facilities are estimated at $115-135 per square meter per year, and for class B - $100-125 per square meter per year," Maxim Shakirov, Warehouse and Industrial Dept. director at Colliers International told The Moscow News.

Moscow has the most expensive real estate per square foot in the world today

Stirling Sotheby's parent company opened a new franchise in Moscow, the company announced Wednesday. The new franchise, part of the Sotheby's network, will offer area agents a chance to capitalize on investors stuck in a high-priced locale, says Roger Soderstrom, owner of the Orlando franchise. "Moscow has the most expensive real estate per square foot in the world today," Soderstrom told Orlando Business Journal. "[Investors] think our prices in Central Florida are giveaway prices."

Russia's PIK to spend IPO cash on new projects

PIK Group raised $1.8 billion in an initial public offering in June, near the bottom of its placement range, becoming Russia's top developer with a market value of $12.3 billion. The company said the offering, which was placed at $25 per share, was Europe's largest ever IPO by a real estate firm. Pisarev told Vedomosti Asian investors took up about a third of the offer and U.S. and European investors the remainder.

Real Estate in Uzbek town of Ferghana

Similar price hikes can be found in the Uzbek and Tajik parts of the Valley as well. In the Uzbek towns of Andijan and Ferghana, residents say that apartment prices have doubled or tripled in the past few years. Prices for a well-situated house with land in the Tajik town of Khudjand, for example, can cost up to $60,000, according to one inhabitant there. Why are prices going up? A decline in housing construction, a larger population, and remittances from abroad appear to drive the trend.

Yukos Auction Has U.S. Winner

A company that Rosneft recently sold to a U.S. entrepreneur bought Yukos' international unit at a forced auction Wednesday, as former Yukos managers vowed to pursue a legal challenge to salvage part of what was once the country's largest oil firm. Promneftstroi, recently acquired by businessman Stephen Lynch, won the unit, Yukos Finance, for 7.8 billion rubles ($305 million) after five minutes of bidding. The winning bid fell well below the $2.7 billion value that former Yukos managers place on the unit, and was just 240 million rubles ($9 million) above the starting price.

Russian property market doesn't give you any room for mistakes

That real estate in Moscow means big business is not news. But what may come as a surprise to some is that the market in the regions is growing rapidly as well. To learn more about the nitty-gritty of getting things done in the Russian market, and what's really going on outside Moscow, The Moscow News talked to Viktoria Manzioukova, partner and department head of Client Solutions at Cushman & Wakefield/Stiles & Riabokobylko, the Russian branch of one of the world's biggest real estate services companies.

Real estate prices rise in Sochi

Property prices in Sochi are soaring, as the city plunges into preparations to host 2014 Olympics. Right now property in the Black Sea resort costs nearly as much as in Moscow. Sochi has a subtropical climate, which is unique for Russia and 2014 Olympics will make it the country’s most well known resort city.

200 Skyscrapers Planned for Moscow

The $10-billion "Moskva-City" complex of offices, hotels, apartments, restaurants, shops and entertainment centers will have about 25 high-rises, including at least seven buildings taller than any others now existing in Europe. Dominating the site will be the 2,008-foot-tall Russia Tower, which will be one of the tallest buildings in the world and is due for completion in 2012. Most of the rest of the center is to open in 2009 and 2010. The Empire State Building, by comparison, is 1,454 feet tall, including its lightning rod. Capital officials have been working on the Moskva-City project since 1990, but few others took it seriously until the turn of the century. Now, fueled by an oil-based boom in Russia's economy, the 148-acre site is a place of frenzied construction.

A global property boom Russian style

The place to be for booming commercial property development right now is Moscow. According to international property analyst Knight Frank, new developments of high-grade office space in the Russian capital have doubled since 2003, with a further 1.5m square feet of space becoming available before 2011. Yields at the top end of the sector now average 10 per cent, mirroring a similar boom in the residential sector, where prices for new-build homes rose by 92 per cent last year alone. Rents are rising at 30 per cent a year.

Accounts Chamber will monitor property, land prices in Sochi - Stepashin

The Accounts Chamber of Russia is planning to monitor closely land and property prices in Sochi, the city chosen to host the 2014 Olympic Games. "The effort to check the spending of funds earmarked for the Olympic Games in Sochi has begun. Several working teams are being put together. Analysts and experts on real estate and property issues will be involved," head of the Accounts Chamber Sergei Stepashin told Interfax on Sunday.

Comfort for Your Wheels

Thanks to my journalist colleagues and especially to Moscow's realtors, any Muscovite who owns an apartment feels like a real capitalist these days. Real estate in Moscow today, as 15 years ago, costs a lot of money. Today, the apartment market, after reaching its peak, seems to be stagnating. Whether a price slump or another surge will follow is anyone's guess, but investors who put all of their eggs into one nest are really on edge. However, those speculating for a rise in garage prices stand to gain: Moscow garages will very soon see their value sky-rocket.

Elran branches into Russia

Tel Aviv-based Elran Real Estate is branching out into Europe and is to invest some $20 million with Russian real estate developer Pettinger Holdings, Yedioth Ahronot revealed Wednesday. Pettinger, which is registered in Cyprus, has various holdings in and around Moscow, and is controlled by Rashi Development, which is owned by Ron Atir, Yaron Rokman, Yoav Kaplan, Shalom Singer and Abraham Goldfinger, and is traded in the Tel Aviv stock exchange.

Russian Real Estate-alite Janna Bullock

The last time we caught sight of the weirdly unaging zillionaire developer Janna Bullock, she was wearing a skin-tight leopard skin miniskirt in the pages of Haute Living. For her profile in today's Home and Garden, the Russian mother of two chose something slightly more demure, a "fluttery Valentino suit," "tiny, kitten-heeled shoes," and "an enormous bag of brown leather encrusted with huge pink and amber plastic 'crystals.'"