The expert did not rule out a halving of the cost of construction materials

The cost of construction materials may fall by half. This was reported to "Izvestia" by Vladimir Komlev, managing partner of the construction company "Buildservice".

"Back in early 2024, the construction industry was booming. And according to the data for 2023 more than on construction (14%) and repair (28%) work, citizens spent only on food. "Logically, against the background of sanctions processes and the departure of specialized organizations from Russia, many companies, including developers, have decided to open their own production of building materials", - said the business representative to "Izvestia"

He specified that the reason for the increase in demand were favorable mortgages, active development of the individual housing construction market, as well as high demand for housing on the part of the population.

However, according to him, by the end of the year, the situation changed dramatically.

"The cancellation of the preferential mortgage program, a sharp increase in the key rate of the Central Bank [Central Bank of the Russian Federation] and, as a consequence, an increase in the cost of loans by banks actually stopped sales in the real estate market. Many developers took loans with a floating rate, but now they cannot close to banks because of the rising cost of debt. In the mass segment, apartment sales have fallen by 70-90%, despite high demand from the population. The same applies to the housing and communal housing market," explained Komlev, who believes that the increase in the key rate will worsen this situation.

The representative of the business believes that as a result, companies will build new projects only in insignificant quantity or not at all.

"Thus, the demand for construction products will fall sharply, and manufacturing companies will be forced to reduce prices. We can assume that the cost of building materials will halve. I think the market will feel it by the middle of 2025", - suggested Komlev.

Life has helmets on: the government will present new measures to support the construction industry

These steps will provide an opportunity to mitigate the effects of key rate increases, inflation, production costs

Earlier, on November 18, it was reported that in Russia contractors have almost completely switched to the use of domestic construction materials and equipment in the construction of social facilities - kindergartens, schools and hospitals. This was reported in the press service of the Ministry of Construction. They also added that the use of foreign equipment in road construction is also decreasing.