Hi,I'm looking into the possibility of buying property in Russia (specifically Murmansk). Is anyone familiar with the tax situation? The channel 4 page on russia suggests that there is a 30% tax on sales for foreigners - not CGT, but a full 30% of the sale price.If this is true it would certainly dissuade me from pursuing this further.

Hi Minsk,Out of interest, why would u want to buy a property in such a remote, cold and desolate place?There is no specific tax on foreigners for real estate transactions in Russia.C.

It is well placed for the development of oil and gas fields in the Barents sea. Property values there have apparently already increased dramatically. Hammerfest in Norway has seen property values soar for similar reasons, although on reflection that is a much smaller town, with limited supply of property.http: / /www .sr .se /cgi -bin /euroarctic /amnessida .asp?programID=2460 &Nyheter=0 &grupp=2604 &artikel=841506Anyway - I've only just started to look into it. I would cerainly need to visit the place and get a good understanding of the tax and legal situation before I parted with money.

mmm... I've just come off the phone to an agent in Murmansk, and it sounds like the buying frenzy is already well underway. Mainly people from Moscow and St Petersburg buying up flats and leaving them empty, hoping to sell them on at a profit in 2-3 years time. The guy said he bought a flat 4 years ago for $250 per m2, and it is now worth $1000 per m2. The maintenance charges (charged by the municipality) are very high and getting higher. It is cold up there, and the price of gas is increasing. They are charged according to the size of the flat, and so people are increasingly looking for smaller flats, all contributing to the price squeeze. Larger flats might therefore be a better buy. Anyway - I'm thinking it might be best to leave this market to the russians and the norwegians.

I am quite familiar with Russia. Although the econcomy is doing extremely well I would not invest there because I have no faith in the laws to protect me. Good luck because if you invest there you could get very lucky or you could get very unlucky.