Residents have cooled off towards Sochi – Business – Kommersant

The decrease in the interest of Russians in buying new buildings throughout Russia has not bypassed the resort towns. In Sochi, which was previously the leader in real estate price growth, this year housing prices began to decline in some segments, while in others, price dynamics slowed down. Experts are talking about the overheating of the market, while developers are increasing the supply of housing in the city.

Buyers began to lose interest in the primary housing market in Sochi, follows from the data of real estate market analysts. According to Nedvex estimates, in January-September 2022, the cost of apartments and apartments in new buildings:

• economy class of the city decreased by 8%, to 193 thousand rubles. per sq. m.,
• comfort class has risen in price by 6%, up to 270 thousand rubles,
• business class – by 9%, up to 415 thousand rubles,
• in the elite segment prices increased by 42% to 986 thousand rubles. (year by year).

The rate of price growth has noticeably decreased relative to previous periods. In January-September 2021, according to Nedvex estimates, housing and apartments under construction in Sochi grew in price by 55%, comfort class – by 43%, business class – by 92%, and the elite segment – more than doubled.

According to CIAN.Analytics, by November, the average prices in the primary market of Sochi had fallen to the level of 380 thousand rubles. per sq. m against 410 thousand per sq. m. m in August 2021.

Since 2018, prices for new buildings in Sochi have grown on average by 41% annually, and 2021 turned out to be the most dynamic year, Nedvex notes. As explained by the company, the rush demand caused by the pandemic, the moratorium on the issuance of permits for new construction, the closure of borders and the trend towards the remote work format provoked a strong increase in the cost of housing in all segments.

Housing prices in Sochi have reached Moscow, but this phenomenon is largely artificial, the head of CIAN.Analytics, Alexei Popov, is sure. According to him, real estate in the capital is more expensive due to the qualitative gap with other regions, but there are no such conditions in Sochi.

Olga Shirokova, director of consulting and analytics department at NF Group, states that today the market in Sochi has objectively overheated, and during the period of the country’s general decline in demand for housing, it was the first to stagnate.

According to Nedvex, in January-September 2022, sales from residential and apartment developers in Sochi decreased by 40% year-on-year, to 5.6 thousand lots. According to Ms. Shirokova, demand, which was held back at the beginning of the year by high prices, has now fallen even more, and developers are talking about discounts, while someone is completely forced to revise the price list. New projects will go on sale at prices lower than today’s average, which will affect the statistics, adds Irina Dobrokhotova, chairman of the board of directors of Best Novostroy.

At the same time, the supply of new buildings in Sochi continues to grow. According to Nedvex, since the beginning of the year, the figure has grown by 62%, to 811 thousand square meters. m. According to Irina Dobrokhotova, we are talking about new buildings in the already implemented complexes. A number of developers have paid attention to Sochi in the last couple of years, when the local market was on the rise, and began to bring projects to the market, Olga Shirokova points out. During a fall in demand, developers display the maximum exposure to stimulate the influx of customers, adds Dmitry Alekseev, head of the primary real estate department at Avito Nedvizhimost.

Olga Shirokova believes that a repetition of the rush demand for Sochi housing in 2020-2021 should not be expected in the coming years. According to Irina Dobrokhotova, investors began to consider foreign markets that are more promising for investment.

Daria Andrianova