PROFILE.RU: Civil Servants Become Either Poorer or More Modest
12 December 2012
Civil Servants Become Either Poorer or More Modest
In 2012 civil servants’ demand for elite real estate in the Russian capital slackened sharply. A roundtable discussion devoted to the topic, organised by the elite real estate agencies Welhome and Contact Real Estate took place at the Lotte Hotel. Leading real estate developers and analysts analysed the current situation in the market and made forecasts for the future.
“Contrary to the expectations of a new round of crisis, 2012 can be considered the most successful in the primary market of real estate in the Central Administrative Area. New projects still entry the market: there have been 6 residential complexes this year. The demand demonstrates record figures: 714 flats sold which exceeds figures of 2009 by 129%, is 6.9 % higher than the figures in 2010 and 8.7% than the volume of flats sold in 2011,” Denis Popov, Managing Partner of Contact Real Estate, reported. “Taking into account that until the end of December there will also be many deals, the ending year can already be considered the most successful by the demand in the primary market of the Central Administrative Area. The increase in sales of newly erected buildings at the initial stage is of particular interest: the demand here amounts to 15% from all the transactions, owing to attractive pricing, official preliminary permissions for construction and reliability of developers”.
“Notwithstanding dollar fluctuations and contrary to negative forecasts of some experts, during 2012 we saw a systematic growth of demand for elite urban real estate in Moscow. In general, the growth of demand in the elite real estate market this year is about 25% and it is concentrated primarily in the districts of Khamovniki (17%), Tverskoy (16%), Presnensky (15%),” Anastasia Mogilatova, General Director of Welhome, reported. “The share of investment purchases is at the level of 2011 and is about 9%. It is also should be mentioned that in 2012 civil servants’ demand for elite real estate slackened sharply. Thus, during the current year there have been registered only 5% from the total number of requests from civil servants received by Welhome, and in 2011 this figure amounted to 33%.”
Leading developers told about determinative trends in elite construction. Thus, a new vector of elite housing construction is related to massive extension of development area and integrated approach to space management in a residential complex,” Ekaterina Batynkova, Deputy General Manager of JSC Sadovye Kvartaly states. Ekaterina called this milestone in development with a concise and bright term – “elite urbanism”. The background of such approach has been created by administrative restrictions for construction in the centre of the city, clearing of vast areas from industrial enterprises in close vicinity to the centre of the city and changes in buying preferences.
“We are watching a reverse influx of elite real estate buyers from the suburbs,” Timur Sukharev, Commercial Director of Restavracia N, stated. “The traffic in the city makes it impossible to live in the suburbs permanently. People need some equivalent to suburban style of life but within the boundaries of the Central Administrative Area, with well-developed infrastructure in the gated territory of a residential complex. That is why integral features of modern projects are the following: a vast development area with professional landscape or even a private park, an extended set of infrastructure facilities such as fitness centres with swimming pools, schools, kindergartens, etc.” Apart from that, the customer has become very sophisticated, and that dictates to developers new requirements to construction, from choosing only the most eco-friendly and high-quality materials to engaging distinguished designers for finishing public zones or flats.”
“The buyer opts for new projects because they are of better quality and more competitive if compared to the majority of houses built 5-10 years ago due to properly thought out concept, architecture, landscape, etc.,’ Ludmila Potapova, Sales Director of CJSC Italyansky Kvartal, added. “Undoubtedly, it has become more difficult to earn for investors in the elite real estate market. Nowadays their only strategy is to buy at the initial stage of construction and to sell at the closing stage and thus earn 30-40% during 2-3 years. Obviously in this case it is necessary to choose such projects whose concept and construction quality determine the future of the elite real estate market for the next decade.”
This tendency is also confirmed with the fact that during the expiring year the most favourable district has been Khamovniki where 40% from the total supply and over 20% of demand are concentrated. It is there where complex construction of such projects as Sadovye Kvartaly, Knightsbridge Private Park, Literator and и Barrin House in which special attention is paid to design of public areas and development of internal infrastructure is under way.
“A promising market trend is also an increase of the number of apartment complexes. A clear tendency in this segment is reconstruction,” Leonid Karpov, Vice President of Gals-Development, said. “It is reconstruction of administrative and industrial buildings used as the key methods for developing apartment projects in the Central Administrative Area”. At the same time Irina Postovalova, Deputy General Director, Head of Sales Department of CJSC Don-Stroy-Invest, states that “nowadays new apartment complexes are practically the same as usual houses: developers give them their best shot: the same luxurious finish of fa?ades, entrance groups and public zones are applied, liveable layouts are thoroughly elaborated, high quality engineering and landscape are designed.
According to expert forecast, in 2013 primary market of the Central Administrative Area will be replenished with new projects both with flats and De Luxe apartments. The number of flats sold will stay at the level of 150-160 per quarter and an increase of price per square meter will not exceed 5-7% a year. The demand will continue to shift towards residential complexes at the stage of “zero” cycle in which constriction is carried out under Shared Construction Participation Agreement in accordance with Federal Law No. 214-FZ and will concentrate also in apartment complexes, prices per square meter of which will be 10-20% lower due to the special status.
Source: Profile.ru