NEW YORK CITY-This year saw a continued influx of Russian money into the New York City real estate market as high-net-worth individuals and investors snapped up real estate here. And it’s a trend that’s likely to continue, according to Edward Mermelstein, real estate attorney and founder of Edward Mermelstein & Associates.

“New York and the US winds up being a large recipient of a lot of the funds coming out of the country,” Mermelstein tells GlobeSt.com. “There was an expectation that this year there would be approximately $65 billion that was leaving Russia and it exceeded that number by about $15 to $20 billion, if not more.”

Like the US, Russia has a presidential election on the horizon for 2012. The political situation there, and the repositioning of the country’s high-net-worth individuals has made the US, and Manhattan, an attractive alternative. “When you’re not sure what direction the government is heading you want to diversify and keep a percentage of your net worth outside of the country and that’s typical of new money that’s been made over the last 15 or 20 years,” Mermelstein points out.

This year, in fact, several of the largest residential purchases on the books came from Russia.

A sampling: Alexander Rovt’s $33 million purchase of Sloane Mansion on the Upper East Side, $48 million paid by Igor Kruoy for an apartment in the Plaza and the blockbuster $88 million paid by heiress Ekaterina Rybolovleva for Sandy Weil’s penthouse apartment at 15 Central Park West.

Many deals, however, don’t make the press because they’re being snapped up by LLCs and individuals that aren’t looking to be in the news, Mermelstein says.

He adds that there are commercial purchases as well but that “most of them are taking place on residential because investment properties purchased by Russians are not necessarily very popular in the New York area.” He expects the affinity for residential, however to continue into 2012, at least through the Russian presidential elections in March.