In February, new buildings were bought up to 10% cheaper than the median price in the ad.

In February, new buildings in cities with millions of residents were bought up to 10% cheaper than the median price in the ad. This was told to Izvestia by analysts of the Yandex Real Estate and Pulse of New Building Sales services, who analyzed the cost per square meter in Russian megacities and compared it with the price when buying real estate.

"On average, in million-plus cities, the price in ads at the end of winter was 3.5% higher than in real deals. At the same time, apartments at a price significantly lower than the average in the city were bought in Volgograd, Chelyabinsk and Novosibirsk in February — here the difference between the price of a "square" in ads and transactions was 10 percent or more," the study says.

In Kazan, Moscow, Samara, Omsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Krasnodar, on the contrary, the cost per square meter in real transactions turned out to be higher than in ads — the difference ranged from 1% to 7%. At the same time, in January 2025, on average, the price in ads in megacities was 5% higher than the cost of meters in DDU.

"Today we see that developers have been able to find a profitable economic model that helps to increase sales. Installment programs seriously support the market, and it should be noted that they are really beneficial for some categories of buyers," explained Evgeny Belokurov, commercial director of Yandex Real Estate.

According to him, the owners who are in the process of selling the facility can use the installment plan to their advantage. This is a way to "book" a new home, and deposit the main amount of funds immediately after the transaction with the previous property. Such alternatives to subsidized mortgages have been able to significantly support the market in recent months, the expert believes.

"Sales volumes in new buildings showed a noticeable increase in February. We are seeing a return of activity in transactions on the primary market in all million-plus cities. Developers are more likely to offer favorable purchase conditions for customers without borrowed funds, including installment programs that are popular today. Therefore, along with the increase in the number of transactions, the gap between the cost of a meter in ads and the actual sale is narrowing," said Artem Advisers, head of the Pulse Sales service for New Buildings.

Payment expectations: home sellers began to issue installments themselves for the secondary

Thus, the owners can additionally earn up to 25% of the cost of the apartment.

Earlier, on February 5, it was reported that almost half of the Russians surveyed linked their plans in 2025 with the solution of the housing issue. One in eight (12%) plans to start saving and saving money to buy a home, 10% of respondents plan to sell an apartment, according to the results of a study by Level Group.