The consequences of increasing the standard price per square meter of housing are named

The Ministry of Construction proposed to increase the standard cost of one square meter of housing, which sometimes differs significantly across regions. This will not affect market prices in any way: the indicator is used by the authorities exclusively when calculating the amount of social payments to citizens for the purchase or construction of housing at the expense of the federal budget. Or – in a situation where it is necessary to resettle people from dilapidated and emergency housing.

According to a document developed by the Ministry of Construction, in the first half of 2024, the standard cost of one “square” may increase by 4.4% – from 93.46 thousand to 97.55 thousand rubles. The highest figures will be set for Moscow – 170.6 thousand rubles, St. Petersburg – 165.3 thousand, Primorsky Territory – almost 159 thousand, as well as the Sakhalin region – 157 thousand and Chukotka – 155.4 thousand rubles. The lowest are for Ingushetia (48.6 thousand), Kabardino-Balkaria (45.9 thousand) and Karachay-Cherkessia (59.2 thousand rubles). According to experts, we are talking about an important technical measure, which, however, does not generally solve the global problem of improving housing conditions even for preferential categories of Russians.

There are many government programs that provide subsidized housing. In each region, conditions may change: there will be different amounts and accounting standards (usually from 6 to 11 square meters per person), but the general receipt scheme and rules are the same. Low-income families, large families, military veterans, and citizens with disabilities have the greatest chance of acquiring an apartment with direct financial assistance from the state.

First, you need to collect a large package of documents: certificates of income of family members and their property, benefits and awards. After that, the housing committee will put you on a waiting list for a subsidy. That, in turn, is calculated using a special formula: its size depends on the standard area per person, the price per square meter, the number of household members and the size of the share paid by the state.

In addition, a person can count on new housing if, for example, he lives with several relatives in a tiny one-room apartment, signed under a social tenancy agreement. To find out your right to improve your living conditions, you need to divide the total square footage of the apartment by the number of people registered in it. If it comes out less than the norm, you have this right.

The problem is that the queue for social rent (apartment ownership) can creep very slowly. And in the case of resettlement from emergency housing, some have been waiting in the wings for decades. Although there is one advantage here: you don’t need to collect documents – the authorities will contact you themselves.

“The standard cost per square meter affects exclusively budget programs developed for preferential categories of citizens,” says Konstantin Aprelev, vice-president of the Russian Guild of Realtors. – It does not concern the real estate market as a whole, mortgages, or other segments.

At the same time, I consider the decision of the Ministry of Construction to be absolutely logical, since the standard must be brought up to the average market price of housing, which is constantly growing. The indicator, calculated differently for different regions, covers all those who could potentially take advantage of the subsidy mechanism for purchasing apartments. To some extent, the measure will improve the solvency of these categories, the number of which is vague, but clearly measured in many millions.”

According to independent real estate expert Alexey Krichevsky, there is nothing supernatural in the initiative of the Ministry of Construction. In essence, we are talking about indexing the standard in accordance with the constantly changing market realities: the price tag for real estate today is “horse”.

Purely formally, this indicator affects several very specific groups of the population, which the authorities believe are well known to them. For example, people on a waiting list huddled in a cramped apartment with a bunch of relatives, or low-income citizens. However, in reality, there are much more people who have the right to claim various types of benefits related to housing issues (from housing renovation and relocation to discounts on electricity) than it might seem to government officials, the expert believes.