In Russia, at the beginning of the year, almost half as many housing projects were launched as in the same periods earlier. On Monday, February 27, reports “Kommersant” with reference to interviewed experts.
The publication says that in January, developers across the country received 192 building permits for 2.51 million square meters of housing. This is almost half as much as in the same period of 2021-2022. The volume of space under construction fell by more than 19% year-on-year.
Market participants explain the reduction in the number of new projects by a decrease in demand, which has not yet been supported even by extending preferential mortgages. At the same time, it is noted that the volume of its issuance in January decreased four times.
So, in Moscow, as stated in the NDV Supermarket Real Estate, in the first month of 2023, 412 thousand square meters of housing were put up for sale at the zero stage of construction – half as much as in January 2022. However, according to analysts, the reduction of new projects affected Siberia, the Far East and the Volga region most of all.
It is not worth expecting a recovery in demand at least until the end of the year, says Denis Bobkov, head of marketing and analytics at Asterus. The chairman of the board of directors of Best Novostroy, Irina Dobrokhotova, in turn, warned that if the number of new projects decreases throughout the year, a serious reduction in the commissioning of housing across the country can be expected in 2026-2027.
Earlier on Monday, it was reported that demand for new buildings in January 2023 fell by 32% compared to December 2022, and by 60% compared to January last year. According to Avito Nedvizhimost, in January-February 2023, 35.9% fewer citizens were interested in apartments in new buildings than a year ago, and 10% in secondary housing.
At the same time, experts note the growing interest of Russians in suburban real estate. As Anton Saukov, head of the suburban real estate center of the federal company Etazhi, told Izvestia on February 19, the demand for such housing in February this year is 1.9 times higher than in the same period last year. The expert believes that in the next two months we should expect an increase in the number of transactions in this segment.
