From Roman Abramovich down, Russian buyers have been a powerful force in the London property market for several years now, helping to drive up prices to record levels in the smartest parts of Mayfair, Belgravia and Knightsbridge. There are signs, however, that many of the Chelsea FC owner’s compatriots are starting to set their sights further afield.
According to the latest research from Knight Frank, the high-end nationwide estate agency, Russians now account for more than half the buyers of £5m-plus houses in the home counties. In 2005, they bought just 11 such properties outside London; last year that figure grew to 73. They are also a significant force in the country market as a whole: a quarter of all foreign buyers here are Russians, compared with 14% from the Middle East and 7% from America.
Alex Newall, a negotiator in Knight Frank’s country department, says half the viewers — including the eventual buyer — of a £10m property that he sold recently near Guildford, Surrey, were Russians; they also made up a third of those who went to look at a £6m house near Virginia Water.
A flick through the pages of New Style — a glossy Russian-language magazine published in London — provides an insight into the kinds of properties that are of interest. Newly built, luxurious piles in exclusive enclaves of Berkshire and Surrey leap from the pages. Few properties have coy “price on application” tags; instead there are bold figures — £70m, for example, for a neoclassical pile in Windlesham, Surrey.
“It has become very popular to invest in the country,” says Julia Belokurova, New Style’s marketing manager. “Maybe because they have already bought everything in London.”
Part of the appeal of the countryside, says Rupert Sweeting, a partner in Knight Frank’s country department, is the desire for a good investment. And like their British counterparts, many wealthy, London-based Russians are also looking for somewhere to retreat to at weekends.
“They go there like they go to their dachas from Moscow — to escape, get away and relax,” he says.
A pile in the home counties makes a good half-term base, too, for those with children at Britain’s most exclusive private schools, many of which are in the southeast. Such homes are also convenient for Gatwick, Heathrow and several private airports.
Peter Young, managing director of John D Wood estate agency, says Russians who have lived in the capital for some time begin to behave more like local people.
“They are emulating the English country lifestyle,” he says. “Once they have established a circle of friends in Britain, they buy in the country.”
So far, there have been limits to how far Russians are prepared to venture from the capital. “My experience is that they won’t go out into the depths of the countryside,” says Robert Bailey, founder of the eponymous property search agency. “A lot of them are tied to places like Surrey because it’s commutable to London, they’re getting a fair-sized plot of land, an in-and-out carriage drive and a detached house. Security’s very tight so, if they’re only using it for one or two months of the year, they can lock it up and go away. They’re looking for trophy houses. It’s playing lord of the manor.”
Particularly popular towns in which to lord it up are Ascot in Berkshire, and Esher, Surrey. Russians go, too, for the gated developments of St George’s Hill and Wentworth, also in Surrey, which combine a neoclassical feel with modern luxuries. “There is no value, as far as a Russian is concerned, in a period property,” says Virginia Garnett, managing director of IntermarkSavills, a specialist Moscow-London agency. “The vast majority are going to buy a new-build.”
Sweeting says most Russians want the same sort of house: new but built in a period style, with lots of rooms, the latest technology, an indoor pool, high security levels and no nearby public rights of way — unlike English buyers, Russians do not demand acres of land.
Crispin Holborow, head of country estates at Savills estate agency, says wealthier buyers will often send underlings to look at properties in advance. “Three or four people would look at it on their behalf before it gets to the stage where they come and look at it themselves,” he says.
And if they can’t find something that fits the bill, many will build it themselves. Robert Adam, the architect whose practice specialises in offering grand, classical homes built to order, says that a few years ago he had no Russian clients; now they are a significant factor in his company’s work — mostly on the outer periphery of London, in developments such as Wentworth.
“They bring a slightly different set of criteria,” he says. “They don’t feel that they need an estate, but they always require the houses to be impressive — they want the status. The classical tradition in Russia is extremely well established.” And, adds Adam, “the cost of the interiors practically makes your eyes water.”
Will Russian buyers continue to confine themselves to the home counties? Probably not. As always, Abramovich has led the way, splashing out £18m on a 1,500acre West Sussex sporting estate in 2000. Others have gone even further afield: Vladimir Lisin, one of Russia’s richest men, paid £6.8m for the 16th-century Aberuchill castle in Perthshire last year. Nikas Safronov, a Russian artist who paints celebrities for £40,000 a time, recently bought a castle in the Scottish Highlands, describing it as a “childhood dream”, while Boris Berezovsky, the billionaire businessman, is also rumoured to be looking for a home in Scotland.
At the other end of the country, a house near Falmouth in Cornwall sold earlier this year to a Russian, who paid £3m for it, and New Style’s latest issue is advertising a converted watermill for sale in Wales, a snip at only £885,000.
“I think they will eventually move out further,” says Sweeting. “They’re dipping a toe in the water at the moment, but as they grow more anglicised and start to appreciate the benefits of the countryside, we will find them spreading out.”
