Miami Becoming the ‘Russian Riviera’

No word on how this is affecting sales of vodka and babushkas, but CNBC reports that a growing share of Miami's real estate market is falling into the hands of Russia's er-wealthy:

"Russian millionaires are an increasingly common sight inside the giant homes for sale along the Miami coast. While Latin Americans especially Brazilians are fueling much of the recovery in the broader Miami real-estate market, it's the rich Russians who are dominating the market for mega-mansions. They're spending hundreds of millions of dollars on waterfront palaces and launching the next big land grab by the world's super-rich.

"The most expensive home ever sold in Miami was purchased this summer by a Russian. The 30,000-square-foot home on Indian Creek Island went for $47 million in August to an anonymous Russian buyer. ...

"Russians spent more than $12 billion on overseas real estate last year, with more than $1 billion of that coming to the United States, according to the National Association of Realtors. While the exact numbers for Florida aren't known, the state ranked first in the nation for its ratio of foreign sales, with more than one in four homes sold to overseas buyers. ...

"[R]ich Russians have a particular attraction to the largest Miami mansions and condos. The weather is a welcome escape from Moscow winters. Russian millionaires and billionaires are also obsessed with security and protection, which they can easily find in Miami's large collection of gated communities, private islands with private police forces and protected condo towers.

"'The Russians are paranoid about security,' said Jorge Uribe, of Sotheby's International Realty in Miami. 'They can have a lot of security here.'"

{Source: "Why Miami Is Becoming the 'Russian Riviera'"}