Research data: renting apartments has become unaffordable for Russians

Every fourth Russian family is forced to rent an apartment – these are the data of a large-scale survey of a large company. For two-thirds of citizens, this financial burden has already become unbearable – the rent for rented housing is too high. More than half of Russians note that over the past year, the cost of living has increased for some by 20%, and for some even by 40%, reaching an average of 50 thousand rubles in the country. This figure is higher than the earnings of the lion’s share of Russians. The question is, what to live on?

58% of respondents pay for rented housing from 40 to 60 thousand rubles a month, another 16% – more than 60 thousand rubles, and 13% – from 20 to 40 thousand rubles a month. Two-thirds of the respondents admitted that the rent is too high for them. Some say that they have no other housing options, since they already rent the cheapest apartments. The rest believe that their families still have something to save on – for example, move to an older house or change a two-room apartment for a one-room apartment. But both of them are desperate.

The decrease in the availability of mortgages for ready-made housing will lead to even greater demand, which means an increase in rental rates, says Olga Pavlinova, director of the rental department of the federal company Etazhi. Prices will also rise due to the reduction in supply, which is currently observed.

Tenants, as a rule, do not even have the opportunity to bargain. If they manage to drop the price by 1-2 thousand rubles a month, it is likely that when the contract is renewed next year, the owners will decide to compensate for the discount and raise the cost of housing. Plus, some landlords want tenants to pay full utility bills—not just water and electricity, but radio, telephone, capital maintenance fees, concierges, and other services that they don’t need or don’t relate to. And tenants pay – where to go …

Returning to their parents is unrealistic for many, especially with children. Crowding 5-6 people in an area of ​​40-50 square meters, and even, as a rule, in old apartments, of which there are a majority in Russia, is a below-average pleasure. And if mom and dad live in a remote province, where there are no seams with work, it seems that there is no way out at all.

After the recent increase in the key rate, many people will have to forget about buying an apartment for a long time, and maybe forever. You can still pull this rent by tightening your belts for yourself and your children. And pulling a mortgage, not even in Moscow, but somewhere in Siberia, will not work from the word “completely”. The payment for the loan exceeds the rental rate by two or even three times.

Large banks have already announced new rates on market mortgages from August 21-22 – at least up to 13.7%. Buyers who cannot afford a mortgage will wait for discounts, but it is unlikely that sellers will immediately agree to this, comments Oleg Repchenko, head of the Analytical Center “Real Estate Market Indicators”. It is possible that some part of the owners, fearing to sell too cheap, will simply remove the objects from sale and enter the rental market. But this does not mean that renting a house will become cheaper.

Oksana Polyakova, Deputy Director of the Office for Lease of Apartments at INCOM-Nedvizhimost, says that owners usually raise rental rates for new tenants in August, September and October by 5-15%. Students come to large cities, the number of labor migrants is increasing. The last in the country, even according to official figures, are 11 million. According to unofficial data – up to 20 million. And it is they, as experts admit, that “wash out” the most affordable housing from the market and “wind up” the cost of rent. 85% of tenants in the mass market are people who come to Moscow from the regions of Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union to earn money.

According to INCOM, there is an acute shortage of economy class offers on the hiring market, 33% less than a year ago. This year, the high season started earlier than usual – already in the last ten days of July and in the first ten days of August, demand was 25% higher than in the same period last year. Relatively cheap apartments go out in a matter of hours, and prices rise at a frantic pace. Back in June and July, within the old boundaries of the capital, one could find options for 25,000 rubles a month, and already in August, the minimum rental rate jumped to 27,000. There are literally only a few such offers, literally 10-20 per month on the territory of old Moscow. Basically, these are “odnushki” in depressive metropolitan areas, at a great distance from the metro.

The above “minimum” price applies only to Russian families of 1-3 people. In general, as realtors admit, the main “hunters” for this kind of housing are guest workers from Central Asia. They move into “grandmother’s” apartments in “teams” of 8-10 people. For them, the price soars by two or three times – by the way, this is practiced not only in the capital, but also in many other Russian cities. Owners deliberately rent apartments to migrants, realizing that in 3-4 years their housing will finally become unusable, but all this time they will receive a constant income above the market. As a result, with the proceeds, you can make a good repair and sell the apartment for decent money.

Finally, it remains only to compare the cost of rent with the income of Russians. The median salary at the end of 2022 in Russia amounted to 40.3 thousand rubles, even in Moscow – 62.5 thousand. The median, if anyone does not know, is the amount that is on the watershed. One half of the inhabitants of the country (city) earns less than the median salary, the other half – more.

We deliberately do not take into account another indicator – the average salary. Firstly, it is formed largely due to wealthy residents, so it looks very solid. Primitively speaking, add up the salaries of the supermarket cashier and the deputy and divide by two – you get 250 thousand rubles a month. In Moscow, of course, there are fewer deputies than cashiers, so the latter spoil the statistics a bit. Up to a quarter of a million rubles, the average metropolitan income does not reach, amounting to “only” 118 thousand rubles (in Russia – 50 thousand), which, you see, is also not bad.

And secondly and most importantly, economy-class apartments are rented by citizens who mostly settled in the lower part of the median salary. And this, as you understand, is by no means deputies …