Is it the Trump effect?
Russia made its way to the top of the Miami Association of Realtors’ list of countries searching online for property in Miami during November’s election month.
Russian people searched for South Florida property the most of any other country for the first time since the Realtors’ association began tracking web searches through its portal, Miamire.com, in 2013. Behind Russia was Colombia and Venezuela. In October, Canada topped the list, followed by Colombia and India.
South Florida’s Russian population is known to congregate in Sunny Isles Beach, also known as Little Moscow. According to the Association of Realtors, about 7.4 percent of Sunny Isles residents list Russian as their first language. But since the U.S.-imposed sanctions against Russia took effect in 2014, real estate agents say there have been fewer Russian buyers in Miami. If Trump reverses those sanctions, that could change.
The Trump brand has attracted Russian buyers in the past. In Sunny Isles, there are six Trump-branded condo towers. The Trump Organization’s chief counsel acknowleged in a Washington Post article published in November that developers of Trump-branded projects have traveled to Russia to market their units.
Even in buildings that don’t bear the president’s name, Russian buyers are still active, buying units in Bal Harbour, Sunny Isles and Surfside. Russian developers are also increasingly active in areas like Bay Harbor Islands and Edgewater, including billionaire Vladislav Doronin and the Versazca Group.
Here’s the full list of countries searching for Miami real estate in November:
- Russia
- Colombia
- Venezuela
- Argentina
- Canada
- Brazil
- India
- Phillippines
- Spain
- United Kingdom
– Katherine Kallergis