Foreigners buy more property in Azerbaijan
By Nigar Orujova
As Azerbaijan attracts more and more foreign specialists, it is no surprise that they are willing to buy property not only in the quickly evolving capital of Baku, but also and even mostly in the regions.
The amount of realty owned by foreigners in Azerbaijan has increased. The State Committee on Property Issues reports that last year, the number of properties owned by foreigners in Azerbaijan reached 2,850. This means that the number of properties of foreign citizens in Azerbaijan increased by 53 percent in comparison with 2013, exciting news for the country’s real estate market.
Overall, the number of properties owned by foreigners doubled in the last three years in Azerbaijan. The contrast between 2,850 properties in 2014 and 1,265 in 2011 speaks for itself. It is worth mentioning that foreigners are keen on buying property in the regions of Azerbaijan.
Over a half of the 1812 properties bought by foreigners in Azerbaijan last year were located in the regions if Azerbaijan – that is, locations outside of major cities.
The most attractive regions for foreign property owners in Azerbaijan are in the south, as well as the Guba-Khachmaz and Zagatala-Balakan regions.
Jalilabad, Lankaran, and Khachmaz follow Baku in the number of properties bought by foreign citizens.
The number of foreign-owned properties in Azerbaijan’s second largest city of Ganja is 120 and 112 in Baku’s neighbor, the industrial city Sumgayit. Foreign-owned properties increased by 9 times in Shirvan, 6 times in Shamakha, and 5 times in Ganja and Barda.
The change is also affecting the type of property that is drawing in foreigners to Azerbaijan. Foreign citizens now prefer to buy land and not apartments as they had before. About 45 percent of the properties of foreign citizens in Azerbaijan are land only, 40 percent are apartments, and 14 percent are private residences.
As predicted, most apartments owned by foreigners are situated in Baku – the business center of the country – totaling 920 in 2014.
Foreign citizens prefer to buy nonresidential property – 24 nonresidential properties out of total 26, notably in Baku – are used for commercial purposes.
Sumgayit, Ganja, and Khachmaz are also popular cities for foreign citizens to buy an apartment. Private residences bought by foreign citizens are also situated mostly in Baku with 71 foreign-owned properties, Guba-Khachmaz with 59, and Zagatala-Balakan with 40.
The Jalilabad region is high on the list of the number of land properties owned by foreigners at 351, followed by Lankaran, Shamkir, and Shirvan.
Real estate has always been considered a reliable investment instrument to preserve and increase capital not only for Azerbaijanis, but also around the world. The relative stability attracts more people to invest in the market.
The increase in cash flow into the real estate market usually has a net positive effect on a country’s overall economic development.
The property market in Azerbaijan is now going through changes, having slightly decreased in prices after recent economic shocks – the fall in oil prices, the devaluation of the national currency earlier this year, etc. For instance, prices in the secondary housing market in dollar terms have decreased by more than 30 percent, while prices in the primary real estate market have decreased slightly.
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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar
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