The expert explained the impact of the dollar exchange rate on the secondary real estate market

"Since last year, when mortgages on the secondary market in Russia became practically inaccessible due to the high refinancing rate, the segment of ready-made housing has significantly decreased, with a drop of 30-40% in most regions of Russia. And the share of mortgages for ready—made apartments tends to zero - there are very few people willing to take out a loan for housing at 26-30%, people take such a step only in very urgent situations, and even fewer of those who meet the bank's requirements for official income and debt burden indicators," he said.p>Against the background of reduced demand, even minimal market fluctuations and reactions to trends are noticeable.

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"Now, in February, we are witnessing an increase in the activity of sellers of secondary real estate — many are ready to accept more substantial discounts and negotiate to speed up the transaction. One of the reasons is the strengthened ruble exchange rate," the expert added.

He explained that while nothing has actually changed for buyers who have savings and income in rubles, for sellers who planned to withdraw money into another currency, the strengthened ruble is an opportunity to do so at a much more pleasant exchange rate than in December and January.

"Considering the prospect of receiving 10-15% more in foreign currency, the owners are ready to concede more to the potential buyer," Chernokulsky said.

According to Chernokulsky, the trend is unlikely to affect the dynamics of the market dramatically, since the share of those who are interested in selling real estate in Russia for the purpose of investing abroad is not so large. However, this may further slow down the sale of real estate for those who, for example, planned to exchange for another living space within the country — the objects of such sellers who are not ready to move so significantly in price, while they will be slightly less competitive.

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation set the dollar exchange rate at 85.9 rubles on February 27. At the beginning of the month, the US currency was worth about 97.8 rubles.

On February 25, Cifra Broker analyst Ivan Efanov told Izvestia that the strengthening of the ruble was influenced by a number of factors, including geopolitics, an increase in net sales of exporters, and a high the key rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.