KOMMERSANT DOM: The Kremlin view
19 June 2013
KOMMERSANT DOM: The Kremlin view
Flats with breathtaking views from windows are considered to be almost the most expensive in the Moscow market. Usually such accommodations are by a third more expensive than the same flats at lower flats and without views. But significantly overpaying for visual neighborhood of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour or the Moskva River a buyer does not have any guarantees that over time the view will not be spoiled with new construction.
Favourite for Gold
The issue of flats with a view has again become topical after official approval of elite real estate development in the area of the former factory ‘Krasny Oktyabr”. Taking into account the location, these houses are very much likely to become leaders in terms of price in the metropolitan market, i.e.to beat Ostozhenka, Arbat and Patriarshiye Ponds in terms of price for a square metre first of all due to exclusive panoramic views at the same time on the Kremlin, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Peter the Great Monument and the Moskva River. First of all it is planned to build 120 flats of different floor spaces. The pricing policy has not been defined yet but according to estimates of Knight Frank, the cost may start at $1.5-2 million for a flat of 100-120 square metres. According to different estimates of experts, the price of a square metre in this region will be from $20 thousand to $50 thousand. But only a few offers will be able to reach the upper threshold. Everything will depend on the location of a house, quality of a project and view characteristics. According to estimates of Soho Estate, not more than 20% of flats will have unique views and that is comparable to the nearest competitors on the opposite bank, i.e. the Barkli Plaza residential complex, Virgin House and other houses with views in Ostozhenka. It means that difference in price between flats will be significant. For example, in the famous residential complex Kopernik in Yakimanka windows of one side of the house face the Moskva River, ХХС, Peter the Great Monument (the same view characteristics as offered in elite houses at Krasny Oktyabr); the prices for flats with such views, according to Contact Real Estate, are from $30 thousand to $40 thousand for a square metre. Windows on the other side face the Gimeney trade centre and prices are already $17-20 thousand for a square metre.
However, the demand and price of a square metre of the new Golden Mile may be influenced by the surroundings. Denis Popov, Managing Partner of Contact Real Estate reminds that so far the fate of numerous entertainment institutions in the area of Krasny Oktyabr - popular and noisy restaurants, clubs and bars – is not clear.
Elite real estate is not fond of onlookers, noise and fuss, that is why the unique characteristics of the island such as detachment, absence of embankment with busy traffic and of course views on the water, the cathedral and the Kremlin may be significantly neutralised by present twenty-four-hour huddle. Especially, as Olga Tarakanova, Head City Sales at Knight Frank , saysif we take into account that some of the future flats will be located on the first floors.
Classification of Views
At present more and more newly erected buildings with prestigious views are in close vicinity to each other: in the district of Prechistenka and Ostozhenka, in the area of Moscow-City and also on Savvinskaya And Rostovskaya Embankments. However, if newly erected houses with views are considered to be houses with panoramic views on the city and greenery in at least 50% of flats, then the largest number of such newly erected buildings is to be found in the western and south-western parts of Moscow,” Kristina Tomilina, Head of Urban Real Estate Sales Department of IntermarkSavills. But the centre of the city is always in priority.
Of course, all buyers have different preferences and which view is more important – either the Kremlin or Neskychny Garden – everyone decides for oneself. However, good views can be conditionally divided into four groups: views on historical building and monuments of architecture, panoramic views overlooking the city, water views and views on a park or a forest belt. Club houses located in the historical centre within the Garden Ring Road belong to the first group. For example, the residential complex Petrovsky boulevard 21 with beautiful views on the boulevard; the house at 11, 2nd Zachtyevsky Lane overlooking the Zachtyevsky Convent; the residential complexes Granatny 6 and Granatny 8: two architectural monuments adjoin the buildings surrounding grounds: an exclusive one-storey mansion of the Zubovs-Leontyevs and Morozov’s mansion; residential complexes at 11 and 13, Prechistenka overlooking churches and the Seven Sisters. Outstanding representatives of qualitative water views: Barkli Plaza on Prechistenskaya Embankment, the residential complex Akvamarin on Ozerkovskaya Embankment, Alye Parusa and CourseHouse. Panoramic views overlooking the city can be enjoyed first of all in the skyscrapers Moscow City as well in the residential comlexes Impersky, Legendy Tsvetnogo, Doma na Mosfilmovskoy, Sky House. To the fourth group there belong Usadba Trubetskikh, Fusion and the residential complexes Knightsbridge Private Park and Dolina Setun under construction.
According to Capital Group, prices for newly erected houses with unique views overlooking the centre of the city today reach $50 for a square metre. At the same time flats without views or on lower floors in the same building will cost about $20 thousand for a square metre.
“Thus in the houses Akvamarin and Chetyre Solntsa also due to closeness to water sales are going very well. When you call to a sales office, you are warned at once: a water view is 25-30% more expensive,” says Mikhail Razdolsky, Head of Oktyabsrkoe Pole Department of Incom-Nedvizhimost. If apartments without views in the Moskva Tower can be bought at $10 thousand for a square metre, then prices for apartments with panoramic views start from $13 thousand and can exceed $22-23 thousand for a square metre. On average an increase in price for a view is about 30%. At the same time, according to Timur Sukharev, Chief Commercial Officer of Restavracia N, none of the views can be compared in price to a view overlooking the Red Square. The most expensive views now are proposed in apartments of the Moskva hotel overlooking the Kremlin, the Red Square which, according to Soho Estate, sellers estimated at $100 for a square metre.
The reason for the difference in price apart from visual pleasure is quite clear. Good views make real estate more liquid, i.e. it will be much easier to sell it in the future. However, according to Mr Razdolsky, most often such offers are popular among buyers who have the ability to pay for their whims and are not in distress for money.
Surprise with a Rock-Drill
Overpaying for a view from an elite accommodation, a buyer still does not get any guarantees that at some time new construction will not spread in front of his eyes and will not obstruct the view from the window. “The market works in such a way that in fact there cannot be any guarantees,” Ms Tarakanova says. Often it is not even possible to rely on the city development plan because it can also be changed. The typical example is the Premier House in Fotneva street where buyers overpaid for wonderful views overlooking the park and then Family Dom Vorobyevo was constructed nearby and it obstructed all these views.
At the same time the possibility of undesirable changes can be estimated by indirect indicators. Experts advise to pay attention to the surrounding development area. As a rule, if in front of the window there is undeveloped, clear land, an old cottage with nailed up or broken out windows or an operating facility (a factory or a plant), then the risks are very significant. Best of all secured from the loss of their view features are those items that stand in the first row of embankments, with views on a nature reserve or on railways separating a park from residential development or directly adjoined to park areas. “It is also considered that today owners of elite real estate in the historical centre are less exposed to the risk, because here there are fewer places for construction than in more remote districts,” says Natalya Shinchanina, Sales Director of Vesper. But even there the possibility of appearance of a new construction site under windows should not be excluded. Thus, residents of the elite residential complex Belagravia in Burdenko street could hardly expect that an ancient red brick mansion bosomed in trees would turn into the Noah's ark named Skuratov-House. Notably that the house was erected using Stakhanovite methods: working 7 days a week. Nowadays of front of the famous elite residential complex Park Palace there is a new real estate property is being built which will obstruct the view on the Moskva river in some of the flats of Park Palace. “Quite often we face such situation when a buyer purchases a flat, for example with a water view and pays more than for a usual flat and then in a year or two in front of his windows there begins construction of a new house with a water view,” Ms Tomilina summarises. “Not long ago I was in a flat on one of the upper floors in the residential complex Sozvezdie Kapital 1 that has lost its view peculiarities after the construction of the residential complex Sky House in close vicinity. And such examples are numerous, take for example Alye Parusa. And there are precedents with the Golden Mile as well,” Vadim Lamin, Managing Partner of the real estate agency Spencer Estate, adds.
Views Potential
From the point of view of construction of new houses with panoramic views, the most promising areas in Moscow experts consider to be embankments of the Moskva river. It is here where historically lots of industrial areas have concentrated which make it possible to build here not only residential houses but to provide the necessary infrastructure. Among the most attractive, according to Knight Frank, are the areas of Badaevsky brewery, plant named after Kazakov, sites around the Luzhniki stadium where there are numerous structures of strange look and purpose. In Zamoskvorechye within 2 kilometres from the Kremlin there are also potential sites that are so far frozen. The most interesting of them is Sophiyskaya embankment. Contact Real Estate names Taras Shevchenko Embankment as a promising site. This place is unique as it stands on a hill and is separated from the noise of Kutuzovsky by green trees and houses (views overlooking the Moskva river and City as an established architectural focus).
And according to the opinion of Maria Litinetskaya, General Director of Metrium Group there are hardly any vacant sites left in Moscow where construction of elite houses with views is possible. “Outside the Central Administrative Area construction of elite real estate items is a priori impossible: the central location is a compulsory condition for a complex to be considered an elite one”, Ms Litvinenko says. “ Apart from that, the authorities long ago introduced restrictions in terms of height of buildings. That is why we will not see such newly erected buildings with views any more”.
Source: Kommersant Dom