To Foreign

Real Estate
Promotion
in the
Russian
Market

Review 2.0, Edition 2022

Introduction by
RMAA CEO Vadim Tylik
Russians invest their savings into real estate abroad with
pleasure. In 2021 the volume of Russian investments in
foreign real estate increased by 61% compared to 2020 and
amounted to $1352 million. We created this White Paper
specially for foreign developers of residential and commercial
real estate who want to learn motivation and potential of
Russian buyers better and to deepen their footprint in the
Russian market.
RMAA Agency
Founded in 2008 and based in Moscow, the RMAA
marketing agency creates for its clients a detailed and
extensive understanding on how to increase sales, improve
their marketing techniques and grow businesses and brands
in Russia and the CIS. Not only do we create plans, we
implement them as well. Through consulting, technology,
design, and communication, we give our clients an
innovative competitive advantage. Our success is based on
a unique, detailed and scientific approach in each of the
industries we serve.
 Russian demandforforeign realestatepurchase……..4
Contents
Dynamics of cross-border transfers from Russia
Dynamics of demand for foreign real estate
Top 10 popular countries to buy real estate
Purpose of buying property abroad
Commercial real estate for investment
Promising Trends 2022
How topromoteforeign realestateintheRussianmarket
offline.………………………….................................10
Foreign real estate expos in Russia
Participation in GREIMS Moscow
TV advertising
PR articles and modular publishing in mass media
OOH

How topromoteforeign realestateintheRussianmarket

online………………………....................................................16
Website with real estate description
Search advertising
Yandex.Audiences
Targeting to solvent audience
Top 5 Russian websites to sell foreign real estate

Calltracking andanalytics…………..........................................22
Call tracking
End-to-end analytics

Cases of promotion of foreign real estate in the Russian

market……...........................................................................26
 Russian Demand for
Foreign Real Estate Purchase
2012-2021 Dynamics of After a collapse of ruble in late 2014
and early 2015, the total amount of
transfers from Russia dropped almost

Transfers from Russia twice, which is rudely on par with the

change of the ruble-dollar rate.
However, a sustainable growth can be
seen after two years of stagnation.

Ratio between real estate transactions and total The second drop in money
amount of cross-border transfers from Russia ($M) transactions from Russia occurred in
2019. The fall was less significant and
amounted to only 11% compared to the
60,000
previous year.

50,000 In 2020, the share of transfers from

Russia to real estate decreased
significantly, which was associated with
40,000 the COVID-19 pandemic.
6.2%
5.5% However, already in 2021, growth was
30,000
noticeable in both segments.
4.1%
20,000 3.9% 3.9%
3.5% 3.5% 3.6%
3.3%

2.5%
10,000

Source: Reports of credit organizations

0 ‘Information on Cross-Border Transfers
of Individuals’, Russian Post, 2022
2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021
The amount that Russians spent on
buying real estate has grown in 2021 2012-2021 Dynamics of
Demand for Foreign
by 61%. This amount equalled to 1,35
billion US dollars, or 3.9% of the total
volume of transfers.

Before there was a substantial

slowdown of transfers in 2015 as a
Real Estate
result of a tremendous drop of ruble to
US dollar and euro on December 16, Immovable property transactions,
2014 and in 2020 due to COVID-19 remittances from Russia ($M)
pandemic.
2,500

The diagram shows dynamics of cross- 2,146

border immovable property transactions 2,048

(remittances from Russia) for the last 2,000 1,878

10 years.

1,500
1,352
1,235
1,188
1,099
962
1,000 870 841

500

Source: Reports of credit organizations

‘Information on Cross-Border Transfers
0
of Individuals’, Russian Post, 2022
2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021
RANKING 2021
YEARLY
DYNAMICS
2020 2019
Top 10 Popular
1 TURKEY +1 BULGARIA TURKEY
Countries to Buy
Real Estate
2 BULGARIA −1 TURKEY BULGARIA

3 SPAIN – SPAIN SPAIN

4 ITALY – ITALY ITALY Within the last 3 years, clear frontrunners of

Prian.ru rating (one of the leading Russian
5 USA +3 GERMANY GERMANY services to sell real estate abroad) are
Turkey and Bulgaria.
CZECH
6 FINLAND – FINLAND
REPUBLIC
During the last year, the demand for real
7 GEORGIA +3 MONTENEGRO USA estate in USA and Georgia has shown the
best dynamics, thanks to which USA went
8 MONTENEGRO −1 USA FINLAND
up from the 8th to the 5th ranking position
and Georgia from -10th to 7th.
CZECH
9 GERMANY −4 MONTENEGRO
REPUBLIC
In 2022 the devaluation of the ruble and the
10 CYPRUS +2 GEORGIA CYPRUS
unstable political situation have pushed
many Russians to move to other countries.
Under the new circumstances, Turkey, the
UAE, Georgia and Thailand became the
key countries for buying property.
*The rating is based on the analysis of sessions held by 6,8 million
Prian.ru visitors from January 1 until December 31, 2021 Source: Prian.ru, 2022
Purpose of Buying For what purpose did Russian-speaking
investors purchase real estate in 2020?

Property Abroad
According to respondents, the most OBTAIN A RESIDENCE PERMIT 56 %
OR CITIZENSHIP
popular motive for Russian-speaking
investors is to become a resident of a SAVE CAPITAL 33 %
foreign country. They prefer to buy
INCREASE CAPITAL
residential properties, as well as hotels, 26 %
retail facilities and land. PROTECT YOURSELF FROM
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC 23 %
RISKS AT HOME
The average transaction budget is 620
thousand euros, which is twice as much as DIVERSIFY INVESTMENT 11 %
in 2019, although in different countries it PORTFOLIO

varies from 180 thousand to 3 million FREER MOVEMENT BETWEEN

euros. COUNTRIES DURING THE 9%
QUARANTINE PERIOD

In Portugal and Malta, they buy real estate OTHER 5%

for a residence permit, in Finland and the
USA - in order to save capital.

Data based on Tranio's annual survey conducted in 2021

Source: Tranio, 2021 among 414 experts from 35 countries in Europe, America and
Asia, popular among Russian-speaking investors.
 Commercial Real
What types of income generating properties,
apart from apartments and residential
houses, do Russian-speaking investors buy

Estate for Investment

most often?

HOTELS 27 % According to survey participants, in 2020,

Russians invested abroad, in addition to
18 %
residential real estate, primarily in hotels,
RETAIL PROPERTY
retail facilities (shops, supermarkets,
shopping centres) and building land.
LAND 15 %

Other types of income-generating

OFFICES 11 % properties that received less than 5% of
the votes were warehouses, industrial
CAFES, RESTAURANTS 6% facilities, clinics and nursing homes, gas
stations and parking lots.

Data based on Tranio's annual survey conducted in 2021

among 414 experts from 35 countries in Europe, America and Source: Tranio, 2021
Asia, popular among Russian-speaking investors.
Decree on new rules on monetary
transactions with foreign currency, real
estate, securities and other foreign
Promising Trends 2022
assets for Russian residents came into
force on the territory of the Russian
Federation as of March 1, 2022.
According to the new Decree, it is
prohibited for Russian people to buy
real estate in foreign countries that
"commit unfriendly actions" towards the Number and dynamics of search queries of
Russian Federation. Russian users for the purchase of real estate

In this regard, other relevant areas

have appeared for Russian investors in 70031
the real estate sector such as Turkey,
the UAE, interest in which has been
growing for several years, as well as
Georgia and Serbia.
20225

15430 15059
+145%

10960
+496%
Source: Yandex.Wordstat, for the analysis +409% +537% 2448
was taken the sum of requests "buy real +70%
estate", "buy a house" and "buy an +539%
apartment" for each country in March
2022. The percentage indicates the

UAE
Serbia
Turkey

Georgia

Cyprus
Dubai
dynamics of requests in March 2022 to
March 2021.
Why Russians Need
Real Estate Abroad.
Experts’ Opinions
‘Russians are more attracted by investments, which
substantial part is within the price range up to €3
million. Predominantly, these are inns, residential realty
for further letting, small cafés and restaurants,’ explains
Ekaterina Phonareva, Director of Real Estate
Department in Colliers International.
As explained by the expert, Russian-speaking clients became more rational. ‘Just some five-ten
years ago it was almost always an impulse purchase. Now we calculate some financial models
almost for every facility. This is so common,’ adds Irina Mosheva, Managing Director of Sotheby`s
International Realty. 'Besides, the time for decision making became shorter. It is enough for a client to
spend two or three days to choose two or three most suitable properties out of ten offered ones.'

‘The greatest demand is observed in those areas that make it possible not only to purchase real
estate, but also to obtain immigration status. Recently, the demand for lifestyle real estate has
decreased, but the interest in real estate for obtaining a residence permit or citizenship and
investment has only increased,’ explains Elena Marinicheva, Vice President of Russia Sotheby's
International Realty
 How to Promote Foreign Real
Estate in the Russian Market Offline
Foreign Real Estate
Expos in Russia
Participation in expos is a unique
opportunity for developers, real estate and
broker agencies, and property
management companies to present their
best projects and for buyers to get
professional consulting with regards to the
most profitable ways of investment, learn
about modern capital maintenance and
financial management methods.

▪ MPIRES, the largest foreign real estate

trade show,
▪ Moscow International Property Show,
the first professional real estate trade
show in Russia,
▪ INVEST SHOW, Moscow Overseas
Property & Investment Show,
▪ MAPIC Russia, International retail real
estate exhibition and forum.

Photo source: mpires.ru

Participation in
GREIMS Moscow
GREIMS is an invitation-only event
devoted to foreign real estate,
investments, and migration, organized by
Global Promotion Group.

Long-time and approved partners, active

market of foreign real estate, loyal
audience of visitors and participants—
these are just some key aspects that mark
out GREIMS Moscow from other events.

At the event, you can:

▪ Learn about the condition of the foreign
real estate market in Moscow;
▪ Discuss issues that are of interest for
you; Listen to speakers’ speeches;
▪ Get to know Moscow leading experts;
▪ Tell about your offer;
▪ Meet investors and buyers;
▪ Talk to members of other participating
companies.
 Avarage share of TV channels, %
TV Advertising
TNT 2,9 TV advertising is still one of the most
effective promotion methods: 97%
Russians watch TV at least once a month,
TV CENTRE 3,6 and 64% Russians watch TV daily,
according to MediaScope at year-end
DOMASHNIY 4 2021.

RUSSIA-24 4 The coverage is a true catch of TV ads. At

the same time, this promotion channel is
one of the most expensive ones and will
STS 4,5 be hardly suitable for all projects.

REN-TV 4,7 For TV placement, it is important not only

to choose the right channel, but also to
CHANNEL 5 5,7 consider a TV show type for ad video
airtime.
NTV 8,8

CHANNEL ONE RUSSIA 9,5

RUSSIA 1 15,8

Source: MediaScope, Russia, 4+, April 2022

PR Articles and Modular
Publishing in Mass Media
Both articles and advertising blocks can be
used for promotion in business and
industry papers. For articles, cooperation
can be win-win: if a competent expert
provides intelligent and informative
content, the article publication service can
be free. Articles can also be published for a
price as advertising.

Russian printed media about foreign real

estate:
▪ Vash dom za rubezhom
▪ Daidzhest nedvizhimosti
▪ International Residence
▪ Homes Overseas
▪ Zagranhouse

Apart from specialized media, it is efficient

to have publications in non-core media, for
instance, business magazines.
OOH
The catches of out-of-home advertising
are:
▪ opportunity to reach the audience in
certain regions,
▪ 24/7 availability,
▪ high frequency of exposure to ads,
coupled with effective design, enable
to increase brand awareness a lot.

Until quite recently, a clear drawback of

out-of-home advertising has been its
inability to provide detailed information on
the product. However, in the omnichannel
age this is out-of-home advertising that
can encourage passers-by to visit a
company’s website or share some content
in social media, increasing your brand
coverage and awareness by doing so.

Besides, a switch to Digital Out-Of-Home

and programmatic in OOH will let you
evaluate and buy the audience, not just an
advertising space, more exactly.
 How to Promote Foreign Real
Estate in the Russian Market Online
Website with Real
Estate Description
In respect of real estate sales, it is best to
create websites with a property description
and a directory of offered apartment options.
The more information a user will need to
learn about you before addressing, the more
complicated the website will turn out to be.

When selling one-of-a-kind properties or

holding promo actions, it is better to create
separate landing pages that will directly lead
to sales.

Regardless of its volume, a website for

selling foreign real estate to Russian-
speaking audience must meet the following
basic requirements:
▪ Localization. The content must be
translated into Russian.
▪ Fast load and 24/7 access.
▪ Mobile device optimization.
▪ Various contact forms: online consultant,
telephone, email, messenger, etc.
Search Advertising «buy a house...» «buy an apartment...» «buy property..»

Dozens of thousands of Russian-speaking

users monthly look for real estate abroad.
According to Yandex.Wordstat (Russian
word choice service), more exact queries 1409
ABROAD
such as ‘buy apartment in Turkey’ or ‘buy 5204
house in Bulgaria’ get ahead of general 26722
queries about foreign real estate purchase
by ten folds.

IN TURKEY 119693
The number of online queries about real
515798
estate purchase increased by 66% in April
2021-March 2022, compared to April 2020- 116559
March 2021.

Foreign real estate advertising 94949

IN BULGARIA
peculiarities: 162680
▪ Prune non-target audience, 62320
▪ Target ads surgically per region,
▪ Use retargeting,
▪ Test different strategies and creatives. 118941
IN SPAIN
144051
Source: Yandex.Wordstat, 98120
April 2020-March 2022
Yandex.Audience
Yandex.Audiences is a service that lets
you use your own data about target
audience, as well as data from Yandex
and providers (DMP) to set up advertising
campaigns in Yandex.Direct,
Yandex.Display, and ADFOX.

Yandex.Audiences let you:

▪ Upload data from CRM to show ads to
your clients;
▪ Form segments based upon data from
Yandex.Metrics or AppMetrica;
▪ Work with media advertising audience
on a pixel-by-pixel basis;
▪ Find new clients by means of Look-
alike technology;
▪ Select audience per geolocation
(certain addresses and surroundings of
+10km radius);
▪ Use data provider segments.
Targeting to Solvent Audience
In order to promote real estate, it is necessary An interest-based audience in
VKontakte
to target ads to solvent audience. For that,
when setting up an advertising campaign on
VKontakte or MyTarget, use detailed targeting. 7.2M
For example, you can target ads to those who
are interested in:
▪ Property purchase (7.2M)* 6M
▪ Commercial real estate (3M)*
▪ Car purchase (2.6M)* etc.

Besides, you can set up separate audience in

a respective section of your account and
target ads, for instance, to website visitors or 3M
look-alike audience. 2.6M
2.3M
When setting up ads on VKontakte, you can 1.2M 1.2M
also look for solvent audience in interest
groups (jewelry, elite clubs, luxury brands
etc.).
iPhone 13 Traveling iPhone 12 Car Commercial Jewelry Property
owners abroad owners purchase real estate purchase

There is no universal audience, so you need

*Approximate reach, according to VKontakte Ads Manager,
to set up all options of solvent audiences, see
Russia, April 2022
what works better, and redistribute your
budget.
Top 5 Russian-Language
Websites to Sell For many Russians, housing purchase
abroad is on the list of their dearest

Foreign Real Estate

wishes. That is why more and more
services appear in the Russian market
that let them see the options and buy
or rent real estate abroad.

Q-ty of offers, K
For a buyer or a tenant, portals are
interesting, first of all, by an
opportunity to find proper realty
quickly; for foreign real estate owners,
to promote their offer for Russian-
REALTING.COM 150
speaking users.

TRANIO.RU 113 Top 5 portals from Yandex organic

search results in query ‘buy realty
abroad’ (Yandex, April 2022):
HOMESOVERSEAS.RU 97

▪ realting.com
PRIAN.RU 76 ▪ tranio.ru
▪ homesoverseas.ru
▪ prian.ru
AVITO.RU 5 ▪ avito.ru
Call Tracking and Analytics
Marketing in real estate implies:

▪ a long decision cycle. Making a

buying decision can take half a
year and more. The analytics
system shall keep all data about
interaction with a customer, from a
first touch to a purchase.
▪ usage of a big number of
advertising tools: search engine
advertising, media advertising,
targeted advertising in social
media, banner ads on local or
federal portals, news in mass
media and on portals, offline
advertising (billboards, cross street
banners, TV ads, ads in printed
media), expos.
End-to-end analytics systems allow
monitoring user behavior and give
marketers an opportunity to estimate a
contribution of every channel into winning
of buyers.
Call Tracking
In real estate, calls from buyers are a key
indicator. Call tracking lets you understand
what advertising channel brings more
clients and how much they cost.

Static call tracking is suitable for tracking

efficiency of offline channels.

Dynamic call tracking enables a deeper

analysis of operation of digital channels up
to an ad and a key word that led to a
conversion.

Most popular call tracking services in

Russia:
▪ Callibri;
▪ CoMagic;
▪ Calltracking.ru;
▪ Calltouch;
▪ Mango Office;
▪ Roistat.
End-to-End
Analytics
End-to-end analytics lets you see the
whole consumer interaction chain, from a
first contact to making of a transaction. In
real estate, this is particularly important
because housing purchase is not an
impromptu decision and the sales cycle
can count several months.

What does it give you?

▪ An opportunity to automatically collect
data from advertising systems and
connect them to data from CRM.
▪ An opportunity to analyse ROI per each
marketing tool real-time and effectively
redistribute advertising budget.

Most popular end-to-end analytics systems

in Russia:
▪ Calltouch
▪ CoMagic
▪ Roistat
Foreign real estate sale is one of the most
highly competitive industries where there are
no universal promotion solutions. It is
necessary to analyse the market and search
for optimal solutions for every single
company (even for every single property).

RMAA experts will help you determine the

most effective promotion channels in
accordance with your goals and objectives
and elaborate a marketing strategy to
promote your real estate to the Russian-
speaking audience.

Our cases on the promotion of foreign real

estate in the Russian market say more than
any words.
Full Digital Marketing Solutions in Russia for foreign
real estate developers: we handle everything from
developing marketing strategy, market analysis to ads
production, digital and online advertising that fits your
specific needs. For more information contact RMAA
team via e-mail:

office@rmaa.agency