Expert forecasts growth in demand for real estate in Russia

December for the real estate market traditionally becomes a month of increased demand before the fall in January. Russians prefer to finalize matters related to buying, selling, renting real estate before the New Year. Director of the company "Zhilfond" Alexander Chernokulsky told "Izvestia" on November 22 that there is also a revival of activity against the background of talk about the allegedly possible freezing of deposits.

"We are already seeing a slight revival of activity amid talk of a possible freezing of deposits. Investors in Russia are anxious and suspicious people, even a small probability of such a development makes people worry about their savings, especially on the eve of the long vacations, when bank offices will simply not work for several days in a row. Not everyone has enough money on deposit to buy an apartment. However, those who have such an opportunity, are likely to use it to transfer savings from ruble accounts to real estate," - said Chernokulsky.

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According to him, the activity on the market at the end of the year can be additionally fueled not by individuals, but by companies. He cited data from the Central Bank (CBR) of the Russian Federation, according to which legal entities in the Russian Federation held more than 57 trillion rubles on deposits in October.

"Many companies revise their taxable base at the end of the year and try to reduce it. In this regard, the accounting department always strongly recommends real estate transactions to be conducted before the New Year. This year, the issue is even more relevant due to changes in tax legislation," added the expert.

At the same time, he clarified that from January 1, 2025 state duties for actions with real estate are increased. For individuals the burden will not change much - 4 thousand rubles instead of 2 thousand, and for legal entities the difference will be more significant: 44 thousand rubles instead of 22 thousand.

"In the case when we are not talking about a single purchase, but, for example, a company, it is necessary to conduct a transaction on several objects - for example, to acquire a pool of land plots, the difference can be already very sensitive. And this is, of course, another reason to hurry up with deals before the end of the year," - concluded the expert.

Earlier, on November 19, the head of the Central Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina said that talks about freezing deposits in Russian banks are nonsense. She also emphasized that these scenarios are not discussed in the professional environment at all.