LONDON — “The real estate market in the United States may still be slumping, but its high end is enjoying a remarkable updraft, propelled by money flowing in from all corners of the globe, including from developing countries like Brazil, China and India,” writes our colleague Alexei Barrionuevo in his latest real estate piece . “But no group is consistently writing bigger checks than the Russians.
“Over the past four years, Russians and other citizens of the former Soviet Union have signed contracts to buy more than $1 billion worth of residential real estate in the United States, according to estimates from lawyers and brokers.”
Alexei reports about Dmitry Rybolovlev, who made billions from potash fertilizer, Igor Krutoy, a composer, and Andrei Vavilov, a former deputy finance minister, among others.
Tsunamis of cash from extremely well-off Russians, as well as billions from Gulf oilmen and their families, have had a tangible impact on the real estate market in London, probably more than in any other city in the world.
The influx over the past years and decades helped to send the average price of a home in the central London borough of Kensington and Chelsea over £2 million, or more than $3 million, for the first time — while Britain is battling austerity, a downturn and falling wages and benefits.
