There's no place like home when times are uncertain. There's also no place like home when the world turns hostile. No matter how rich you are, old reflexes return quickly. That leads to unexpected results – like the boom in luxury real estate in Moscow, where prices are soaring to rival those of London or Paris. According to the Knight Frank Russia consultancy, quoted by Bloomberg, the price of high-end housing in Moscow rose by more than 20% in 2024 and is now approaching €20,000 per square meter. Chic villas in the suburbs, on the banks of the Moskva River, are being offered at between €25 and €40 million, and apartments in the historic center at over €30 million.

This flourishing health is astonishing in a country at war, whose economy is ravaged by sanctions and where inflation reached over 9% in December 2024. But it's precisely sanctions and inflation that explain Russian oligarchs' sudden passion for their capital.

Forced abroad, the wealthiest are repatriating their money and investing it in the safest investment after gold – real estate, which is supposed to protect against inflation and the collapse of the rouble. Russia's currency lost 25% of its value in 2024, despite interest rates of 20%.

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