NYT - Moscow Real Estate

[WmGO]

Interesting article - even with downturn the stuff
isn't cheap:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/greathomesanddestinations/20gh-sale.html?hpw

[GoodOlBoy]

.........Sheremet’evo, is about 40 minutes by car.

Yeah right.

Try about 2 hours and 40 minutes!

Moscow traffic is unbelievable.  :evil:

I actually drove in Moscow traffic one time......never again.


GOB

[Aloe]

you should live in the center of moscow only if you want health problems in the long run. It's 1 of the lowest points in the city, i mean the ground, so all the heavy gases collect there, very very very bad ecology in the center

[Phil dAmore]

I have an associate on the ground in Moscow and he keeps reporting back that things are just ducky there.  'Recession?  What recession?' is an oft-heard expression.

Now, the rest of the country, that's another story but who doesn't realize that Moscow is about as representative of the 'real' Russia and New York City is representative of the 'real' USA.

[groovlstk]

I have an associate on the ground in Moscow and he keeps reporting back that things are just ducky there.  'Recession?  What recession?' is an oft-heard expression.

Now, the rest of the country, that's another story but who doesn't realize that Moscow is about as representative of the 'real' Russia and New York City is representative of the 'real' USA.

My wife told me the same thing after spending 2 weeks in Moscow in late April. Her former co-workers at the co. she worked for had a tough few months around the holiday season, but business has picked up and they're once again earning $3-4k per month. People there are spending freely.

[kievstar]

About 700,000 jobs were eliminated in Moscow.  Many of these are construction workers.  The number of daily passengers on the subway are down more than 5%. 

That being said the rest of the city is doing well.  But the banks are getting ready to collapse again unless Putin puts billions into them.  The company I work with does business with all the big global banks and the ones in Moscow have a ton of defaults coming. 

[ConnerVT]

Moscow is the center of the Russian universe.  It has been this way for centuries.  No surprise that it is also the center of Russia's economic universe as well.

As the economy contracts, it contracts back to the center.  Where else would be a good place to invest in Russian real estate in the current economic climate?  This is what holds Moscow real estate prices in check.

[Mir]

Interestingly some still claim that property prices in Kiev are going up!

http://www.uaproperty.com/index.php?-M=page:real-estate-investment-ukraine

[JR]

I have an associate on the ground in Moscow and he keeps reporting back that things are just ducky there.  'Recession?  What recession?' is an oft-heard expression.

Now, the rest of the country, that's another story but who doesn't realize that Moscow is about as representative of the 'real' Russia and New York City is representative of the 'real' USA.

I have spoken with several Muscovites and things aren't ducky with them. One is an attorney at a construction firm who lost her job and got swindled out of her pay. Another had to take a 40 percent reduction in pay while maintaining the same 10 hour work days and has had to get a second job.

Here we are being told the recession is just about over. Yeah right. There are two thirds more of the sub-prime loans about to hit various stages of foreclosures. In addition to that there is a huge bubble of refinances that are coming due. Those people bought big houses on zero percent interest loans with a refinance clause at five years. Now their payments are going to go thru the roof and they'll start to default. And you guessed it, they were bundled with other securities and sold on the open market. It'll be interesting to see what happens when all those loans default. Part of me says we're numb and won't care. The other part of me says Act II in on the way...

[Bored1]

I live Moscow and see it every day.  It not so bad as is said by all body.  Traffic is terrible slow though.

[ConnerVT]

What is interesting is that many many people who lived during the USA "Great Depression" said it really wasn't all that bad... if you had a job.