Russians buy houses in Mariupol: “There is the sea, there will be tourism”
Russians are buying houses in Mariupol after Russian forces began rebuilding the city destroyed during the siege, which Russian media says is “coming back to life”. Regardless of the occupation and the ongoing war, the sea-facing city appears to be “a good investment,” as some buyers point out. Russians see a bright future in the tourism and real estate boom. “The war will not last forever,” explains one of the buyers.
The Internet is teeming with real estate ads, according to a survey by independent news site Bumaga. On VKontakte alone there are 100 groups with ads for sale and rent of real estate in occupied Mariupol.
It wasn’t until early May 2022, when fighting was still raging on the city streets, that these announcements made the rounds. Requests for real estate, including real estate “under any conditions”, come from all over Russia, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod. Avito website contains 70 ads for real estate in Mariupol. 34 of the ads are for apartments, 35 for townhouses and one for commercial space. The average price for an apartment is three million rubles ($34,000). As a result of the long struggle for control of Mariupol, 90 percent of condominiums and 60 percent of houses were destroyed. 1,348 civilians died according to the UN, 10,000 according to Mayor Vadym Boichenko. Russia says it has renovated 1,829 buildings and rebuilt 36 apartment buildings by March this year.