Is it possible to sell apartment for Euros in Belarus?
The situation will remain like this in the near future, says Mikalai Prastalupau, the chairman of the Union of Belarusian Realtors. The reason is that Belarusians simply don’t have euros.
“We don’t expect it to happen in the near future. The population simply does not have cash euros on their hands. Belarus still remains in the US dollar zone”.
Your Capital, the leading real estate agency in Minsk, does not sell apartments for Euros. They maintain that if they quote the price in Euro, nobody will pay attention.
“Apartments are not sold for Euros. They are advertised in US dollars only. Nobody will pay attention to the price in Euro when we have such a huge number of offers in dollars”.
This reporter tried to sell her apartment for Euros. But the scheme, proposed by the Square Meter realty agency, turned out to be too complicated. It is doable to get Euros but only after your apartment is appraised in US dollar which continues getting weaker.
“Of course, one can make a quotation in Euro. We will appreciate the apartment in dollars. Afterwards, we will calculate the price in Euro and tell a buyer that you want to get your money in Euro, not in US dollars. We will just convert this in Euro, what is the difference?”
As for renting, things with Euro stand easier. According to Mikalai Prastalupau, over half of commercial property has been priced in Euro. But it is still early to call this process common.
“Over half of the commercial property’s fees are charged in Euro. As for the housing, it is not really common. The process has begun, but it is still early to say that everyone has switched to Euro”.
Alena Nikalayeva, the chief of housing rental department at Your Capital real estate agency, says that only 5 percent of the estate, mostly luxury apartments, is let out for Euro. Budget housing is still paid for in US dollars.
It is clearly of no advantage to those who rent apartments to pay in Euros. Euro continues to grow, while “meters” run more expensive, correspondingly. On the contrary, landlords are interested in Euros. In order to increase the rent in dollars, tenants have first to agree to that. Euro is growing anyway, says a staff from Dzinas real estate agency.
“You can stipulate in the tenancy agreement that you can raise the rent fees due to certain circumstances. But the point is whether your tenants will agree with this increase. They can simply leave the place, find a new apartment or reject your rent increase. As a rule, agreements are made for one year, so tenants keep paying a fixed amount stipulated in the contract”.
Dzianis said that there should be no problem with receiving rent payments in Euro.
“Of course, you can charge in Euro. I don’t think that you should have any problems. Actually, people are slowly switching to Euro. In the agreement, you can write down that every month the tenants will have to pay you a certain amount at a certain currency according to the exchange rate on the date of payment”.
