Photo: Pixabay (Montenegro)The Montenegrin Real Estate Administration has estimated that Russian citizens own or co-own 18,906 properties and 3.9 million square meters of land in Montenegro. The total floor area of Russian real estate, which includes residential and business premises, is 1,151,657 square meters, while the number of land plots they bought in Montenegro is 12,598. The data submitted to Pobjeda by the Real Estate Administration are the first official information on the number of Russian real estate in Montenegro that is published in the media.
The Russians have real estate in 13 Montenegrin municipalities - Bar, Budva, Cetinje, Danilovgrad, Herceg Novi, Kolašin, Kotor, Mojkovac, Nikšic, Podgorica, Tivat, Ulcinj and Žabljak.
They have the most real estate in Budva - 6,671, and their total floor area is 396,203 square meters. In the metropolis of Montenegrin tourism, the Russians have 603,834 square meters of land. Next is Bar, where they bought or built 4,661 properties, with a total area of 285,027 square meters. In the municipality of Bar, the Russians have the most land - 923,641 square meters. They also own a large number of real estates in Herceg Novi - 2,935, with an area of 180,927 square meters, while in that municipality they have 698,284 square meters of land. In Kotor, they own or co-own 2,345 properties and 659,777 square meters of land. In Tivat, the Russians have 1,532 properties and 294,063 square meters of land.
Russian citizens also have significant property in Ulcinj, where they are holders of rights to 519 real estates, floor areas of 31,273 square meters, as well as 73,504 square meters of land. They bought 116 properties and 139,842 square meters of land in Žabljak, while they have 33 properties and 131,635 square meters of land in Kolašin. The Russians also have a large plot of land in the Danilovgrad municipality - 145,050 square meters, and they also own 42 properties. They have 19 real estates and 71,888 square meters of land in Podgorica, and 24 real estates and 37,116 square meters of land in Cetinje. Real estate was also traded in Mojkovac, where they own four buildings, but also 72,878 square meters of land, while they have slightly smaller assets in Nikšić - 48,194 square meters of land and five real estates.
The total value of real estate that Russians have in Montenegro is not known, but the exact amount of property is connected with oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin's regime, and Russian state officials.
They are currently freezing their property in Europe in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Although it declaratively supported the sanctions imposed on Russia, the outgoing government of Zdravko Krivokapić has not yet harmonized its policy with the EU. Therefore, it is not known when and which property of the Russians in Montenegro will be under sanctions. According to blic.rs, the Russians are afraid of sanctions and these days they want to transfer real estate from their name. They are not paying for the sale at the moment because they do not know where to go with the money. They do not want to keep it in domestic banks because they believe that the state will confiscate it from their accounts if sanctions are imposed.
The Russians bought the most real estate they have in Montenegro today in the first years since gaining Montenegrin independence in 2006, when they paid 10,000 euros per square meter for good real estate on the Montenegrin coast. They bought a lot of land through the companies they opened there. Prices then peaked, and returned to normal only when the Russians began living in Montenegro. The average Russian buyer today is between 40 and 60 years old and is looking for an apartment to live in in Montenegro.
According to investitor.me, Russians are still the biggest buyers of real estate in Montenegro, but their interest has dropped significantly in recent years, which has been affected by the cooling of relations between Montenegro and Russia.
Source: blic.rs
