Tim Millard, Managing Partner, ООО «Кушман энд Вэйкфилд» Russia and CIS.
2011 has been an extraordinary year. Investment levels in commercial property in Russia have reached new highs and a string of huge deals in office leasing market has also pushed this market to new records as well. The question underline that is whether this activity has been driven by the confidence in future or by people taking advantage of existing market conditions – violability of space, vacancy, relative cheapness in terms of pricing. The answer perhaps is not straight forward, it is perhaps the mix of both of these things. And its still remains uncertain what will happen in 2012. Obviously there are many uncertainty in the western European markets and it is about to have an effect in Russia. But my overall feeling is that most of the activity in Russia is driven by a confidence in the future and by the future growth prospects for the market. And 2012 will perhaps will not reach the levels of 2011 and there will definitely headwinds and challenges, but it will still remain a very good market for property market in Russia and for the people who are looking forward to good returns and good prospects in future the market remain very interesting.