Real Estate Web Portal Kicks Off in Russia

According to Repka, Alma Media's decision to enter the Russian market was based on the group's two key criteria that prompt setting up a Web-based portal in a foreign country - steady growth of GDP and development of Internet. Russia has both and Moscow with its 40-percent Internet penetration rate at the moment is the chief target. Moreover, buoyant construction and investment activity in Russia's real estate market, accompanied by growing property prices, offer promising perspectives. The Finnish company estimates the current size of Russia's online real estate market at 8 million Euros and believes that by 2010 it will grow fourfold.