MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/. Investments in commercial real estate in Russia reached an all-time high last year, totaling 487.2 billion rubles ($6.9 bln), thanks to the sale of assets of foreign companies that left the market, the NF Group consulting agency reported on Friday.
"The volume of investments in commercial real estate in Russia has reached an all-time high <...> and amounted to 487.2 billion rubles. <...> The main drivers of investment demand in 2022 were local investors who acquired the assets of companies which left the [Russian] market," the report says.
The volume of investments in commercial real estate in Russia at the end of 2022 exceeded the figure for 2021 by 21%. The share of investments in finished properties increased from 36% in 2021 to 55% in 2022.
The share of foreign capital in the total volume of investments in commercial real estate in 2022 was the smallest in the history of observations - 3.3%, NF Group noted.
In January-September of 2022, the Russian assets of Fazer, Carlsberg, Valio, Paulig, Wimm-Bill-Dann, Pizza Hut, Sponda and PPF Real Estate entered the commercial real estate market. In the fourth quarter of 2022, SvetoCopy and Mercedes-Benz sold their lots. The NF Group noted that the real estate objects were often bought by local management or partners of the companies.
"Russian investors become owners of the absolute majority of premium properties in various segments, and this trend is likely to continue until the outgoing companies sell all their assets. In 2023, such active behavior of investors is not expected - the most liquid properties have already changed owners, and we expect a gradual return of investment volumes to the level of 2016-2020, that is, up to 300 billion rubles ($4.3 bln) annually," Alexey Novikov, managing partner of NF Group, said.
The largest volume of investments among commercial real estate segments, according to NF Group, fell on offices - 22%. Warehouse and industrial real estate rank second (17%), retail property ranked third (8%). As for the regions of Russia, Moscow is the leader in demand (69%), while St. Petersburg ranks second (22%).