Гид MIPIM MIPIM 2010

Experts bring up two reasons as they try to explain the absolute slowdown ofinvestment activities in the real estate

market. The usual suspects are the absence of borrowed funds and quality items on offer.

Not that I argue with this sentiment.

Yes, these are the key culprits. But, hey, let’s look around. There are other assassins who bring water to the mill. What about political impact? The case when the stock market dropped almost by 40% is still fresh in the memory. It all happened when the Prime Minister publicly criticized Mechel steel mill.

Mentality is one more factor. Russians lack economic patriotism. Industry watchdogs note that Russians have an active interest, unusual for a crisis period, in foreign

real estate.

They buy houses and other facilities far from the borders of the beloved but troublesome motherland. Meanwhile in Germany, the authorities do their best to keep the money in the country. Financial institutions, staggering under the economic crisis, are supervised by the government agencies. They make money work in the country and don’t allow it to be invested abroad.

Apart from that, we do have problemswith taxation, legislation and industrial manufacturing... All this negatively impacts

GDP and decreases “liquidity” of Russia. There is some movement on the real estate market nonetheless! Investors

we have met while preparing this edition didn’t look depressive losers throwing Armani shirts in suitcases in a hurry. These guys are calm and focused with a sober vision and in a good mood.

Who and how much is investing in the real estate market today? Who are they – unrelated to this segment of the market investors carrying out behind-the-scene deals? What investment strategies can we borrow to weather economic storms? We have tried to provide answers for these and other questions in this Guide. Hope you will use it as a tool for balanced investment decisions.