Rich Russians in U.K. Think About Sanctions, but Keep Buying Mansions
A lunchtime crowd of around 60 real-estate agents and property developers tucked into champagne, caviar and canapés last week at a new six-bedroom mansion in St. George’s Hill, a gated community in London’s leafy suburbs popular with ultrawealthy foreigners.
The group shared an interest in selling the property, listed at £9.5 million ($15.9 million), as quickly as possible. And the most likely buyers, according to almost everyone there: the Russians.
The diplomatic battle between Russia, the U.S. and European Union has heightened expectations that Russians will voluntarily shun U.K. real estate, a much-loved option for those looking to expand their holdings beyond Moscow.
But sanctions imposed against Russia haven’t stopped its people from buying property in the U.K. And the mood at this Surrey mansion, named Saddle Stones, suggested no particular concern that this will change.
The flow of private Russian money into the U.K. isn’t limited to central London. It also targets residential properties in upmarket suburbs and offices and retail parks. Russian commercial real-estate investment in the U.K. was £336 million in the first half of 2014, double the total from all of 2013, data from real-estate broker JLL show.
“But we can say the Russians were here, are still here, and will be here for the rest of the year. There’s not been a reversion of trends, or change in behavior,” Mr. Stassen said.
The number of Russians applying for special visas that fast-track U.K. residence applications in return for investing millions of pounds in the U.K. more than doubled between January and March compared with the same period last year, according to data from the U.K. Home Office.
“People have a lot of questions about what’s going to happen with the sanctions. They ask, what are these bad things [U.K. Prime Minister David] Cameron is saying?” he said. Mr. Cameron recently called for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to review its long-term relationship with Russia.
“You have to convince them that it’s only affecting people close to the regime [of Russian President Vladimir Putin ],” Mr. Grigorjev said. “Russians had been buying without thinking. Now they’re thinking more, but they’re still buying,” he said.
Source: wsj
