Russian citizens own more than 9,000 properties in Lithuania. Many are unused because Lithuania introduced strict travel bans on Russians. And selling their properties could be impossible due to banking sanctions.
Lithuania’s Baltic coast has long been a favourite holiday destination for Russians. Nowadays, they face strict restrictions on travelling to Lithuania. Properties they own in the country stand empty.
Some, according to real estate brokers, expect that sanctions will eventually be lifted and that they can come again.
“They hope that the war will be over and they will be able to come and enjoy our seaside,” says Ona Mackevičienė, owner of Rolijona real estate agency.
She points to a luxury block on Birutės Avenue in Palanga. “I know for a fact, that some Russians own properties [here]. Not many, but they do. They don’t want to sell, they are waiting for better times,” she added.
According to the data of the Centre of Registers, Russian citizens own more than 9,000 properties in Lithuania. The majority of them are located in Vilnius, Visaginas, and Klaipėda.
According to Mackevičienė, most Russian owners who wanted to sell their properties in Lithuania have already done so. There is no shortage of potential buyers eyeing empty flats on fire sale, but it is not that easy.
“Some people come, especially young people who have money, and say: ‘Wow, you must have a lot of Russian-owned flats so maybe we can buy them for cheap.’ You can’t,” says the realtor.
Legally, there are no restrictions for Russian citizens who are not under individual sanctions to sell their property in Lithuania.
“A Russian citizen is free to sell the real estate he or she owns,” notes the [resident of the Chamber of Notaries Marius Stračkaitis.
However, there might be technical hurdles.
In 2022, the Lithuanian parliament tightened cash payment rules for both businesses and individuals: they can only transfer sums of up to 5,000 euros in cash. Larger payments must be made through banks.
So in order to make a transaction, a Russian citizen must have an account with a bank in Europe or any country whose banks are not sanctioned.
“Otherwise, if they have an account in a bank in the Russian Federation, then, as you know, almost all of them are on the sanctions list. There would be no possibility of transferring funds to such an account,” Stračkaitis stresses.
Most Russian banks are disconnected from the SWIFT banking payment system.
Mindaugas Statulevičius, president of the Real Estate Development Association, says the difficulties in making deals show that sanctions are working.
“There is no major relief in sight – those who want to buy property from [Russian] sellers face difficulties. [...] This proves that our government’s requirements to restrict real estate transactions with citizens of unfriendly third countries are working, are effective,” he tells LRT TV.
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