Experts told what kind of housing Russians refuse to buy

“I will deprive my wife of square meters”

Buyers of all types of housing focus not on the layouts they prefer, but on the cost of housing, says Yevgeny Brazhin, an expert at the Stroginskaya Poyma MIEL. Nobody wants to overpay, even dollar millionaires. At the same time, the motives of people choosing housing “more budget-friendly” may be different.

30-year-old Muscovite Nikolai Sychev is going to get married. For himself, the young man decided: first I will buy a house, and then I will officially create a family. At first, Nikolai told MK that he wanted to give the bride a gift, but he gradually opened up. A gift is a gift, however, in fact, it is fundamentally important for the groom to purchase and arrange an apartment for himself before the wedding, so that the future wife would not have claims on her during the divorce. As you know, an apartment, including a mortgage, bought by one of the spouses before marriage is considered his property. The second spouse has no rights to it.

“The realtor picked up two options for me that I could master,” says the interlocutor. – The first is a classic one-room apartment with an area of ​​33 “squares” for 9 million rubles in Lublin, the second is a euro-bedroom apartment of the same footage and in the same area, but already for more than 11 million. I chose the first one – the monthly mortgage payment was 10 thousand less, and in the event of a divorce, “one piece” will be enough for me.

Of course, not all Russians are as mercenary and far-sighted as Nikolai. Yet for more than a year now, buyers have been prioritizing cost and being careful about repair or not. In the current situation, buyers do not understand how much more they will have to invest in materials, maintenance crews, etc. Relevant proposals, even with a modest repair, but allowing you to immediately call in and live.

Finished apartments are in the highest demand in mass new buildings, says Ruslan Syrtsov, Managing Director of Metrium. The main reason is the cost-effectiveness of repairs from the developer. In high-end segments, customers usually place higher demands on the quality of finishes. Therefore, as a rule, it is carried out only by developers who are ready to offer different interior options from leading designers and with high-quality materials.

However, last spring, developers began to refuse finishing and furnishing even in those residential complexes where these services were originally supposed. Changed supply chains and a significant drop in demand in the fall of 2022 played a role, which, of course, did not contribute to the interest of the Russians.

Balconies are now expensive

The main trend in design is a decrease in the area of ​​​​apartments, says Alexei Dugin, General Director of KTS PROJECT. Bedrooms range in size from 10 to 12 square meters, and the absence of unnecessary partitions and long corridors frees up additional meters. But there is also a stumbling block: balconies, which have become very popular with Russians since the pandemic.

“On the one hand, a large number of balconies and loggias in the project increases the cost of the facility, and we are moving along the path of conscious consumption and cost reduction,” says Dugin. – On the other hand, the presence of balconies or loggias in the project allows you to diversify the facades so that they acquire architectural expressiveness.

“It’s hard to say whether Russians are thinking about the architectural expressiveness of balconies, but they certainly are useful,” says psychologist Lyubov Izvarova. – Firstly, the cost per square meter of balconies is about two, and sometimes even three times lower than the “apartment” one. Secondly, there is a place to hang clothes. Thirdly, you can breathe fresh air without leaving your home.

The average area of ​​flats and suites in Moscow new buildings has decreased by 22% over three years, to 54 square meters. At the same time, the share of studios and odnushki in the total volume of supply increased by 55%. In addition, developers are almost 60% more likely to offer apartments with finishing.

“It has become more difficult to sell objects “in concrete,” says Evgeny Brazhin. – At a minimum, a pre-finishing finish (white box) is needed: communications should be carried out in the apartment, radiators should be installed, all the rough work should be done: a screed on the floor is poured, and the walls and ceiling are puttied and aligned with construction beacons. Most often, developers in such houses make centralized glazing of loggias and install iron entrance doors.

Spacious walk-in closets, laundry rooms, master bedrooms, terraces and other functional extras are relevant only in premium segment complexes. Buyers of “economy” are not up to fat – it would be where to live. Even in “comfort” projects (intermediate between “economy” and “business”), the average selling area is 40-42 square meters, in the business class – 57 “squares”, says Yana Glazunova, CEO of VSN Realty.

“Those who move to new buildings from the old stock — houses over 20 years old — always do not pay attention to the presence of dressing rooms before communicating with the manager,” says Pavel Lepish, commercial director of the MIC Group. – But their presence is more functional than bulky cabinets.

Very small (about 20 square meters) and very large (more than 150 square meters) apartments are of interest mainly to investors. The tendency of recent years to reduce the size of housing is dictated by two factors: the buyer wants to pay less and get the maximum usable area. Comfortable layouts are in demand, where every meter can be used with a minimum of corridor spaces, with thoughtful storage areas, a laundry room, and several bathrooms. The area is thus reduced significantly.

Toilet away from bedroom

“As a student, I dreamed: I would be the owner of an apartment with my own room for placing clothes and shoes,” entrepreneur Anna Budyakova shares with MK. – After graduating from university, in 2014, I bought a 30-meter “odnushka” at Domodedovskaya, allocated a corner for my dressing room. But I didn’t want a corner! I began to save money to fulfill my dream. By 2020, set aside two million rubles. And then the pandemic struck.

Anna did not even have time to wake up, as the cost of new housing jumped and continued to grow at a frantic pace. Now the girl could, having sold her second home and paid the accumulated two million, at best, buy a studio in a new building, but much smaller and without a hint of a dressing room.

– The “secondary” began to become cheaper just right away, – Anna complains. – I tried to put a price in the ad, as in new buildings, but for six months I had only a couple of calls. When the people on the other end of the wire understood that I would not reduce the cost of their housing, they simply hung up.

Anna’s friend, Marina Kuznetsova, once bought a one-room apartment of 55 square meters. True, the footage mainly consisted of a long, narrow and completely useless 10-meter corridor, as well as a loggia of the same area.

– I placed a chair-bed on the loggia, put a table, chairs, planted flowers. But there is no sense in this long sausage, I use the loggia only in the warm season, 3-4 months. The bed and chairs were rusty, the flowers withered. Until you reach the toilet along the corridor, a lot of time will pass. Now I’m trying to sell housing, but so far it’s not working out, people immediately catch the “chip,” Marina complains.

And the point, of course, is not in rotten furniture. The Russians began to pay less attention to apartments of non-market areas, says Valery Kochetkov, director of the Novostroyki direction of INCOM-Real Estate. For example, a one-room apartment with an area of ​​​​52 square meters will not fall into the filter from a potential buyer of a one-room apartment, since in 90% of cases he will set a limit on the area to 35-40 square meters.

The same applies to other categories of apartments. “Dvushki” with dimensions of more than 80 square meters are considered illiquid, with good demand for apartments with an area of ​​​​50-60 “squares”. Demanded three-room apartments – with an area of ​​​​75-80 meters, illiquid – more than 100 “squares”.

The period of exposure of apartments (from the placement of an advertisement to the moment of sale) with a liquid area is up to three months, with a non-market area – more than nine months.

Eight out of ten buyers, according to statistics, are considering buying not a separate apartment, but an apartment with the services that this or that residential complex offers. For example, apartments with a storage room directly in the apartment repel 75% of buyers. Consumers usually prefer to buy an apartment first, and then, after moving in, they are ready to consider purchasing a separate storage room on the minus ground floor.

Classical apartments in new buildings are offered in few places, the euro format is held in high esteem. “Such layouts save valuable square meters due to the absence of rectangular rooms, elongated corridors, non-standard rooms, extra partitions, etc.,” comments Ruslan Syrtsov. – Kitchen-living rooms are optimally suited for collective family pastime, and master bedrooms (rooms with a bed, dressing room and bathroom) help parents to retire from children for a while.

“Buyers are looking for more privacy: not only bedrooms, but also small rooms for offices. Ideally, if the complex has a yard where you can relax, play sports, and work. Russians want multifunctionality, but not personal living spaces, but public places, – says Yana Glazunova.

“I want to go to theaters, but I can’t”

However, rich buyers “are also crying.” As Ruslan Syrtsov says, elite developers rarely build studios, but in the center of Moscow, within walking distance from the Kremlin, such housing is very popular. Even wealthy people often cannot afford spacious apartments in prestigious areas, but they still strive to own real estate here.

Lost positions penthouses and apartments of too large area. Dmitry Dolgov, CEO of the real estate brokerage agency DOLGOV PRO, says that there is a sharp decrease in demand for large apartments – from 150 sq. m and above. The popularity of this type of planning decisions is declining due to the fact that suburban real estate is an excellent alternative to large apartments.

The producer of one of the TV channels says that even “five years ago” the penthouse he would like to purchase cost exactly one and a half times cheaper. “And this despite the fact that prices for high-value housing grow much more slowly than for cheap ones!” – the businessman is indignant. The producer says that he basically did not invest in “dream housing”, as he expects the price to drop as early as next year. “There we are talking about saving tens of millions of rubles,” says the producer. “Nothing, I’ll wait.”

— Would you like to buy a house in the area? – we ask.

“I already have more than one house in the region, I live there myself, and I bought it for all the children,” the interlocutor answers. – And now I myself want to live in the center of the capital, go to theaters … Do I have the right? I have. But I can’t implement it.

– The general direction of the last year and a half is the reduction of effective demand. Therefore, when making a decision to purchase housing, a family, as a rule, focuses on price (in the vast majority of cases, this is the most important characteristic), transport accessibility, infrastructure (schools and kindergartens) and, finally, the possibility of an early housewarming (here it is important that there is a repair , even in the budget version), says Kirill Kulakov, president of the Regional Association of Appraisers, Professor of the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering. – Depending on which of the listed characteristics of an apartment for a family is decisive, a decision is made to purchase an apartment.

After the restrictions of the Bank of Russia on zero lending rates and other hidden dumping, developers understand that small-sized apartments are unlikely to be in demand: banks will not approve loans for people with limited income, and the middle class is not interested in apartments whose total area does not exceed 30 meters.

— We may see the migration of development projects to the business class segment. The number of new sites this year has fallen sharply, which means that developers will work not from turnover, but from high margins, says Kirill Kulakov. This means that there will be less and less relatively cheap apartments. And ordinary Russians will actually have no chance to improve housing.