Russian investors filling gap left by Brits in the Italian property market

Potential European property investors may want to follow the example set by an increasing number of Russian tycoons and head back to the Italian property market, it has been suggested.

Overseas Property Professional (OPP) has reported that, while British investors have been shying away from the housing market in the country, more Russian and other European buyers have begun to fill that void.

Speaking at a property exhibition, the chief executive officer of L'Architrave Lois Allan said: "The number of UK buyers we sell to has gone right down and buyers from Russia, Scandinavia and the Benelux countries are more important now.

"But it's good to have a presence in the UK … because the market is starting to pick up and we want to network."

At the St Petersburg and Moscow International Property Show last year Italy was the fifth most popular destination for potential investors.

Earlier this year, A Place in the Sun predicted that Italy would be an investment hotspot in 2010, bolstered by the fact that it is the fifth most visited country in the world.

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