Russians Are Flooding Out Of London's Housing Market As The Ruble Crumbles

Sanctions, bank limitations on withdrawals and the shattered ruble are killing Russian demand for luxury London housing. All but the most wealthy Oligarchs are getting hit by the country's crisis, according to the article:

The London property market has already slowed down: According to the Office For National Statistics, prices in London were up by 17.2% in the year to October. That's actually a drop from the increases seen earlier in the year. However, most analysts aren't putting that down to fewer Russian buyers.

The ruble has now declined to such an extent that buying property in another currency, like sterling, is around twice as expensive as it was at the beginning of the year. Ordinary Russians are queueing up to get hold of dollars, and panic-buying in stores.

Some real estate experts are even more unequivocal about the disappearance of Russian buyers from the market. This from Bloomberg again:

Russian buyers had previously been the biggest international market for London property, but they've been supplanted this year by French and Italian purchasers. If the trend continues, Russian buyers are likely to fall well behind a lot of other countries too.