The situation is becoming homeless – Newspaper Kommersant No. 191 (7392) dated 10/14/2022

Due to the crisis in the economy, the number of transactions in the primary market of high-budget suburban real estate in the Moscow region has decreased by one and a half times. For the first time in five years, the volume of supply began to grow noticeably against the background of a decrease in demand by a third. Buyers have refocused on the segment of ready-made households, where, due to the departure of owners abroad, there are offers with a 30% discount.

In the primary market of high-budget suburban real estate, from January to September 2022, 90 transactions were concluded, which is 48% less year-on-year, Tatyana Alekseeva, director of the NF Group suburban real estate department, told Kommersant. According to her, 40 transactions were registered in the third quarter, which is 51% less than in the same period last year. As a result, the volume of supply increased by 48% over three quarters, to 475 lots, which has not been observed in this segment since 2017, the expert adds.

“Now the market has taken a break,” confirms Sergey Kolosnitsyn, director of the residential real estate department at Penny Lane Realty. According to him, in September alone, the supply of expensive suburban housing in the primary market of the Moscow region increased by 3-5%. According to the CEO of Apple Real Estate Danila Savchenko, now the number of transactions and customer requests in the primary segment has decreased by 35% year-on-year. “The suburban real estate market is the most unstable in any crisis,” he clarifies. Anna Radzhabova, director of the elite real estate department at Metrium Premium, explains that for many, the purchase of an apartment in the city is a priority, the purchase of suburban real estate is considered as a second home.

Yulia Belukova, a member of the AREA association, speaks of a decrease in the number of transactions by 35-40% and activity by 25-30% both in the primary and secondary markets. There were many clients who refuse transactions in the process of registration. Due to the current situation, sellers are ready to give a discount of 10-20%, Sergey Kolosnitsyn notes.

Negative conjuncture in the segment is also noted by developers. “The market is completely calm, after the announcement of partial mobilization, demand fell by 70–80%,” says Maksim Lazovsky, owner of Dom Lazovsky. According to NF Group calculations, the average supply budget for expensive cottages since the beginning of this year has decreased by 17%, to 236 million rubles, land plots – by 40%, to 3 million rubles. for a hundred

According to Mr. Lazovsky, the customers who remained in the suburban market are now mainly oriented towards the secondary segment, where the price drop is more noticeable due to the departure of the owners abroad due to military operations in Ukraine. The situation in this sector is slightly better than in the primary market, adds Danila Savchenko: in the secondary market, demand fell by 25%. This is largely due to the fact that the owners of cottages are more willing than developers to discount their property, since in the secondary market the volume of supply increased by 8% in September alone, the expert explains.

Price reduction is observed for those objects, the owners of which decided to urgently go abroad, said Mikhail Dolgov, head of the suburban real estate department of Kalinka Group. “Now discounts on objects in the price segment up to 100 million rubles. reach up to 15–20%, in some cases up to 30%,” he says.

At the same time, according to the expert’s observations, investors have become more active in the market, looking for offers with discounts. But discounts of 50%, which such buyers are focused on, are unlikely to be expected on the suburban real estate market, Mr. Dolgov notes. According to Yulia Belukova, the sellers of already built objects take a different position: some do not bargain, others are immediately ready to reduce the price by 5-10%. The expert adds that buyers who buy suburban real estate for themselves continue to conclude transactions, but there are not so many of them.

Alexandra Mertsalova