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Real Estate Web Portal Kicks Off in Russia
Real estate news By Bojan Soc
13/09/2007
Having conquered several key markets in Eastern Europe, City24, an international network of real estate portals, has launched operations in Russia. The project was unveiled in Moscow Tuesday by Ismo Repka, director of Alma Media Interactive, a subsidiary of City24's parent company, Finland's Alma Media group. "We have projects in 15 European countries and in each of them our portals hold leading spots," Repka told journalists. The arrival of City24 in Russia is another important step for the Helsinki-based group's expansion in Eastern Europe.
In this part of the continent the group is already operating in Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Today, City24 portals in Eastern Europe boast high traffic (630,000 users per month), copious databases (150,000 entries) and large client pools (over 1,300 companies). According to Repka, Alma Media's decision to enter the Russian market was based on the group's two key criteria that prompt setting up a Web-based portal in a foreign country - steady growth of GDP and development of Internet. Russia has both and Moscow with its 40-percent Internet penetration rate at the moment is the chief target. Moreover, buoyant construction and investment activity in Russia's real estate market, accompanied by growing property prices, offer promising perspectives.
The Finnish company estimates the current size of Russia's online real estate market at 8 million Euros and believes that by 2010 it will grow fourfold. In Russia, Alma Media recognizes growth potential in two other core online markets - motor vehicles and recruitment - in which it specializes at home. Coupled with real estate these markets in Russia could be worth 102 million Euros in three years, Repka added. "We intend to create the most efficient and convenient contact between seller and buyer," says Denis Krasnolutsky, director of City24.ru.
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