It might be good for brokers looking to close the deal of a lifetime to add fluency in Russian to their catalog of skills.
The top of the market in New York City Real Estate and around the country is booming, thanks in large part to a flood of foreign buyers snapping up trophy properties. Perhaps the most prolific and spendthrift buyers have come from Russia, according to a report from the New York Times.
Billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev’s $88 million purchase of a penthouse on Central Park West from former Citigroup Chairman Sanford I. Weill — the highest price paid for an apartment in the city’s history — is just one example of the big-time Russian deals, according to the Times.
Rybolovlev himself has spent nearly $200 million on properties around the country, including a 69,000-sqare-foot Florida mansion previously owned by Donald Trump. He has yet to visit the property, the Times says.
Many Russians, rolling in cash after a period of privatization that created an unprecedented amount of billionaires and millionaires, are eager to get their cash out of the country, the Times suggests.
It seems like they don’t really trust the increasingly unpopular but still powerful government of Vladimir Putin, who seems to be frustrated by the fact that as much as $84 billion left the country in 2011, the Times reports.
But Russia’s loss has been a boon for real estate markets around the world, particularly New York City. As buyers from many countries seek the relative safety of U.S. markets, it’s increasingly important to cater to that sector of the market.