The Russian investment market is being transformed in the face of sanctions and restrictions on access to foreign instruments, the general economic situation and changes in legislation. And not only the available tools are changing, but also the behavior of investors, their preferences and strategies. What does the Russian investment landscape look like today, what is the mood of investors, and what will happen to the market in the near future?
Portrait of a Russian investor in 2025
In April 2025, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation published a Study on Investment literacy conducted by NAFI. More than 2,000 people took part in it, among whom only 5% were qualified investors, and 31% were beginners. The study showed that the most popular type of investment account remains a brokerage account (including an IIC, individual investment account): 61% of respondents chose it, and this is a big gap from the IIC of the mutual fund management companies (17%), accounts in the register of owners of mutual fund investment shares (17%) and other options.
Shares of Russian companies remain the most common instrument, with 62% of respondents voting for them. The top three are Russian government bonds (27%) and shares of OPIF, IPIF or BPIF (21%). Half of the respondents have a demand for non-financial assets, primarily precious metals and real estate. They are most often approached by investors aged 18-30 years and with more than 1.5 years of experience.
Despite the limited number of available investment instruments and the difficult economic situation, the number of private investors is growing. At the same time, the average age is decreasing — up to 36 years, according to a study by the Financial Literacy Laboratory of the Central University. More and more young people are involved in investments, and at an early age: 18-20 years. Tools for teenage investors are emerging.
At the same time, the share of investors over the age of 65 is increasing: in 2022-2024, there were 2.5 times more of them. These are people who are looking for an alternative to the usual banking products. They choose long-term, moderate strategies.
According to the estimates of the Financial Literacy Laboratory of the Central University, the behavior of active private investors has changed over the years 2022-2024. The number of aggressive traders who want to earn high returns has increased significantly, from 52% to 63%. While “conservatives” became 3% against 7% in 2022, and those who adhere to a moderate strategy — 34% against 41%.
Dynamics of bonds, stocks and real estate
In general terms, the set of available tools for private investors remains unchanged today. The only thing that varies is the volume of offers in different categories and their profitability, depending on the changes in the market that occur constantly.
According to the Central Bank’s “Financial Market Risk Review” for July 2025, bonds have become the most profitable investment instrument over the past 12 months. First of all, we are talking about OFZ, federal loan bonds. Against the background of a multi—month reduction in the key rate, their yield was 27.4%, and the yield on corporate bonds with an A rating (that is, with a high level of reliability) was 26.5%. With such indicators, bonds have overtaken gold, which was previously the leader in this list: its yield in the period from July 2024 to July 2025 was 24.6%.
Against the background of such dynamics, the share of bonds in investor portfolios has reached its maximum since 2020 — 35%. Such figures were provided by the Central Bank in September. Investments increased primarily in long-term OFZs and in medium-term bonds of non-financial companies: construction, electric power and others. Many investors transferred money from equity funds to bond funds.
The investment climate in the stock market from July 2024 to July 2025 was instable, and the high key interest rate encouraged investors to transfer money to bank deposits. As a result, some segments of the stock market showed strong negative dynamics: shares of the IT industry sank by 29.9%, construction share sank by 24.7%.
Over the long term, starting in 2022, stock market dynamics in the IT and construction sectors are also negative: -40.4% and -41.3%. Shares of metallurgical companies also sank by 37%. The growth was shown by the chemical industry (31.2%), transport (27.2%) and the oil and gas sector (14.3%). And outside of the stock market, gold (+93.3%) and bitcoin have shown high returns since the beginning of 2022, as expected: investments in it have brought investors +173% over 3.5 years.
Real estate as an investment asset continues to remain attractive mainly in the elite segment, where the economic situation practically does not affect the behavior of buyers. Luxury housing prices continue to rise. In Moscow, for the first half of 2025, the average cost of 1 sq. m. m increased by 6%, to 2.2 million rubles, according to NF Group analysts. In the premium segment, it amounted to 1.5 million rubles (+7%), in the de-luxury segment – 3.1 million rubles (+12%). By the end of the year, analysts expect prices to rise by 8-10%.
Prices are also rising in the secondary luxury market. According to Kalinka Ecosystem, the average cost of 1 sq.m. m in Moscow in January-June 2025 amounted to 1,465 million rubles, +12% year-on-year. Demand for secondary luxury housing in the 2nd quarter increased by 30% compared to the 1st quarter. Apartments remain the most in demand, while the average area of the lot in demand is growing and in the 2nd quarter amounted to 177 sq. m.
Mutual funds continue to develop: in 2024, the total volume of their net assets added 3.6 trillion rubles and amounted to 14.6 trillion rubles. The number of shareholders has doubled. Real estate investment funds are also developing: their assets increased by 9% to 672 billion rubles in the 2nd quarter of 2025.
The largest increase occurred in residential real estate due to the fact that developers began to look for alternatives to bank financing. At the same time, for the first time since 2024, the largest inflow of funds occurred in funds for unqualified investors, against the background of lower deposit rates to 18% on average. Real estate mutual funds show returns of up to 27%. In addition, starting from March 1, 2026, mutual funds will be able to change their status from those available only to qualified investors to those available to non- qualified investors.
Digital solutions attract attention
In the context of a narrowed range of investment instruments, the DFA market (digital financial assets are tokenized forms of securities, real estate, precious metals and other real assets) is developing in Russia. DFAs are issued, accounted for and traded on blockchain-based platforms, which ensures reliable protection of investor rights. All transactions take place automatically.
Since 2020, this market has been regulated by the law “On Digital Financial Assets” No. 259-FZ. The DFA is issued by information system operators (OIS), which are included in the register of the Central Bank. In September 2025, there were 17 of them, including banks, the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange and specialized platforms: Atomize and others.
The release of DFAs began in 2022, and according to estimates by Expert RA analysts based on OIC data, in January–September 2024, the volume of DFAs issued amounted to 470 issues worth about 316 billion rubles. These figures significantly exceeded the consensus forecast made in 2023: it was expected that about 300 DFAs worth up to 125 billion rubles would be issued.
Investors mainly invested in simple monetary claims, and the DFA acted as a short-term funding tool. The share of fixed-rate issues increased from 39% to 82%. According to Expert RA analysts, this could be because most of the DFAs were issued by large issuing banks: Alfa-Bank, VTB and Sber (in fact, for investors it is like a deposit), and the maturity was reduced to 123 days.
In May 2025, the Central Bank noted the growth of the DFA market: the volume of funds raised amounted to 800 billion rubles according to the results of the 1st quarter. The number of DFA users has reached 335 thousand people. More than half of the issuers are credit institutions, but the interest of companies from the energy sector, the transport sector and others is growing. For businesses, DFA is one of the ways to attract investments with less effort than, for example, when issuing bonds.
By July 1, 2025, the volume of DFA issued in money exceeded the mark of 1 trillion rubles. Now this market is at the stage of active development. Operator platforms are integrated into banking applications to simplify investor interaction with the DFA. Non-standard DFAs are available, for example, for wine.
Financial market experts say that in the context of generational change, a segment of investors is forming who choose innovative instruments — the DFA may be one of them. In addition, the DFA can be divided into separate tokens, enabling investors with different capital to use this tool. And in addition, they can be backed by different assets and liabilities.
According to a study by the Agenda PR agency conducted based on search queries in Yandex.Wordstat, the demand for DFAs in the first half of 2025 increased by more than 1.5 times compared to the first half of 2024. It is too early to say that DFAs will replace classic stocks, bonds or other instruments. However, with today’s digitalization of many processes and things, we can expect investors to continue to grow in interest in DFA. Especially if the Central Bank expands the opportunities of unqualified investors in relation to DFA. Currently, there are restrictions on the amounts and categories of assets.
Bank deposits reduce the value
In 2024, facing a significant increase in the key rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, first to 18%, and in the fall to 21% altogether, bank deposits became especially attractive for many Russians, including private investors.
A survey among RBC readers conducted in 2024 showed that 42% of respondents changed the proportions of investing new money between deposits and a brokerage account in favor of the former. Moreover, 8% have fully or partially withdrawn money from the stock market for deposits. This is not surprising, because some banks offered to deposit money at 22% per annum: mostly for a period of 6 months.
However, in the second half of 2025, the situation began to change. The Central Bank lowered its key rate to 20% in June, to 18% in August, and to 17% in September. Following it, the average deposit rates decreased: in the 1st decade of July, the largest banks offered 17.91% per annum. Although for a short period of time and small amounts, up to 100 thousand rubles, it was possible to find 30%. Financial market experts predicted that if the Central Bank continues to ease monetary policy, deposit rates could drop to 12-13% by the end of the year.
Moreover, in early September 2025, bank deposit rates reached their lowest level since the beginning of the year. For three-year deposits, they fell to 9.62% per annum. Short-term, for 3 months, they are kept at 15.59%, and this is the maximum available yield. The semi-annual rate is slightly lower – 14.58%. It is expected that customers are increasingly turning to short-term deposits, and not only because of the higher interest rate, but also for the sake of being able to quickly respond to market changes.
If the Central Bank’s rate reaches 15% by the end of the year, the largest banks’ offers will be at 12.5–13%. This is a very big difference from the previous 21-22%, so it is possible that investors will reconsider their strategies again and redistribute their savings.
The world of the Russian investor is constantly changing under the influence of external factors, but despite the barriers and challenges, it continues to evolve. It introduces new digital tools and solutions that simplify working with investments and expand asset management capabilities. The easing of the Central Bank’s monetary policy is shifting the attention of private investors from banking products to bonds, and young investors are increasingly considering non-financial assets.
However, the basis of the portfolio for those who are looking for long-term and stable assets remains unchanged – these are real estate, securities of Russian companies and gold. And yet, asset diversification is at the forefront for investors, because it is the only one that allows them to be flexible to constantly changing conditions.
By Polina Evseeva, CEO, Finsafe