Armenia is located in the north of the Anterior Asia in the northeast of the Armenian Highlands. It is a mountainous, landlocked country with a total area of 40,000 sq.km, where about 3 million people live, it borders with four countries - Georgia in the north, Azerbaijan in the east, Iran in the south, and Turkey in the west.
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Favorable conditions for tourists have been created in Armenia in recent years. Many tourist infrastructure facilities have been built, many interesting tourist routes have been created, and both local travel companies and world giants of this industry operate. This country has a huge potential in the field of tourism, or rather in the fields of ecotourism, ski tourism, mountaineering, etc.
There are 48 settlements with urban status on the territory of Armenia. Most of them are quite small: 34 have an area of less than 10 sq.km, and 22 have less than 10 000 people. The only really big city in the generally accepted sense is the capital of the country - ancient Yerevan, where more than 1 million people live, while its population density is similar to Moscow.
The other cities that are relatively large (but they are several times smaller in size) are Gyumri, Vagharshapat, Kapan, Vanadzor, Hrazdan, Alaverdi, Stepanavan, Dilijan and Artashat. Therefore, if we consider moving to Armenia from the point of view of living in a big city, then the choice here may be exclusively in favor of Yerevan.
Yerevan
The capital of Armenia is the most important center of the economy and industry of the country, the main production, trade and financial capacities are located here. At the same time, this city is one of the oldest in the world - archaeological excavations have shown that people lived here tens of thousands of years ago. The architectural appearance of the city was significantly transformed in the last century. The sights of Yerevan are concentrated in the center of the city, an area originally developed and built according to the project of the outstanding Armenian architect Alexander Tamanyan in the first half of the 20th century.
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Since that time, many buildings have appeared and disappeared in the city, but the layout and overall architectural appearance, as a whole, have been preserved. Pink tuff became the most common building material in the city, thanks to which Yerevan received the name of the "Pink City".
Today Yerevan is the main educational center of the country, where 160 schools (many of them study Russian), 11 universities, as well as several branches of universities from Russia and other countries work. There are dozens of museums, theaters and churches. The Armenian capital has two international airports, a railway station, three bus stations and a metro. A number of important highways and railways converge in the city.
Gyumri
Today, this city is the second largest and largest in the country, but it is much inferior to Yerevan in terms of area and population by five and ten times, respectively. Gyumri is located on the Shirak plateau, which crosses several mountain gorges.Because of this location in 1988, there were very severe consequences in the city due to an earthquake. It has severely undermined the local economy. Then all the production facilities of the city were closed permanently or temporarily suspended. Although before this sad event, the city was a major industrial center. Later Gyumri gradually began to recover and today it has again become a significant industrial center of Armenia.
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Vagharshapat
This city is the third largest, known for being the spiritual and administrative center of the Armenian Apostolic Church, therefore it is called the spiritual capital of the country. There are five churches in Vagharshapat, including the Echmiadzin Cathedral, which is recognized as the main church of the country. In Soviet times, it became a major industrial center with a large number of factories, many of which continue to operate today.
The country's real estate market
Armenia's economy is going through difficult times right now, but at the same time the number of transactions with real estate is steadily growing. This may be due to the fact that in turbulent times it is seen as a more reliable investment. This is especially noticeable in the local fast-growing mortgage sector. The activation in the real estate market is probably also related to the recent decision of the government to close the program, according to which buyers of new housing were refunded income tax in the amount of mortgage interest.
The fall in prices, which was observed in 2020, gradually normalized, and equaled the pre-Soviet and pre-war times. Local experts believe that if the economic and political situation remains stable, the market will continue to grow. In Yerevan, the number of apartment purchase and sale transactions has doubled in a year. At the same time, half of the transactions concern apartments and residential buildings, and more than a third - land plots.
Prices
As for specific data, according to the data of the State Committee of the Real Estate Cadastre of Armenia, real estate prices in Yerevan at the end of last year for 12 months increased by 9.2% - up to 357,000 drams ($733) per sq.m. The highest prices for apartments in the Armenian capital are traditionally held by the Kentron community (Center) - on average 672,000 drams ($1,380) per sq.m. This is followed by Arabkir, where the price is 475,000 drams ($975) per sq.m. Kanaker-Zeitun district closes the top three - 350,000 drams ($720) per sq.m. The lowest housing prices in Yerevan are maintained in the Nubarashen community, where the square meter of the apartment averaged 190 000 drams ($390) per sq.m.
There is also some activity in the regions, especially in areas close to Yerevan. There, apartment prices not only caught up, but also surpassed the prices of apartments in some metropolitan communities. For example, in Abovyan, the cost of 1 sq.m exceeded 204,000 drams ($416), in Vagharshapat 168 000 ($343), in Ashtarak and Artashat - 140,000 drams ($285). Prices in Tsakhkadzor remain the highest in the regions. Here the living space is sold at 295,000 drams ($600) per sq.m.
Why buy real estate in Armenia
The increased interest in Armenian real estate on the part of foreign investors (especially among citizens of the CIS countries) is provoked by economic and social factors. First, most Armenians are fluent in Russian, which eliminates the language barrier. Secondly, with the growing demand for real estate in Armenia, there is an expansion of construction capacity. And finally, the third reason for the increased interest remains elite class housing - comfortable apartments in prestigious areas of the capital of the republic win over the secondary market.
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Conditions for the purchase of real estate by foreigners
The legislation of Armenia does not restrict non-residents in the selection and registration of commercial or residential real estate ownership, does not require a large package of documents. The only exception is the purchase of agricultural land. Such transactions are available only to residents, so initially a foreigner must obtain Armenian citizenship or a special residence status for 10 years under a Special Passport with the possibility of extension.
By the way, Armenia is ranked 13th in the World Bank's ranking for ease of registering property rights, which greatly simplifies the purchase and sale of residential or commercial property. It is worth noting that foreigners can purchase commercial or residential real estate without obtaining a residence permit, special residence status or permanent residence in Armenia.
