Experts spoke about the growing share of online transactions in the new building market

The share of sales in new buildings using online services has grown to 80-90%, whereas five years ago it did not exceed 5-7%. In the premium segment, the figures are higher - 90-95%: speed, task delegation, and a high level of service are especially important here. This is evidenced by data from Unikey and the federal real estate company "Floors", which were reviewed by Izvestia on August 13.

According to the study, about 30% of buyers do not plan a face-to-face visit to the facility, and 40% have at least once made a decision based on a virtual inspection. This approach is especially relevant for young people, nonresident clients and expats, for whom digital viewing has become familiar. If necessary, a realtor is involved in the transaction. Although this trend does not directly affect prices, it increases competition for liquid assets and expands the geography of the market at the expense of large investors from Moscow and St. Petersburg.

According to Aigul Yusupova, managing partner of Unikey, digitalization not only accelerates the total term of the transaction by 22%, but also changes the structure itself.

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"We are witnessing a steady reduction in offline stages and the gradual disappearance of intermediary roles. If earlier the buyer, realtor, lawyer, notary, bank and developer participated in the transaction, then in a few years there will be three key persons involved — the buyer, the developer and the bank. The rest is transformed into a service or a digital interface," the expert said.

Over the past two years, interest in remote transactions has grown significantly due to digitalization and convenient online services, added Kirill Rudnev, a named partner at Etagi in Moscow.

However, offline doesn't disappear completely. According to Unikey estimates, about 44% of buyers still consider an apartment inspection to be a mandatory step, while 48% prefer to sign the contract in person. The main barrier is the fragmentation of the digital environment. As long as the search, mortgage, and registration are split across different platforms, the feeling of a "broken deal" remains, and trust in a fully remote scenario is limited.

In the coming years, the key challenge for the market will be to create a unified digital environment where the entire process, from selection to registration, will be consistent, transparent and without communication failures.

Analysts of the Yandex Real Estate service said on August 6 that in July, prices on the secondary housing market in million-plus cities stagnated amid rising demand. At the same time, the volume of supply in the market of these cities decreased slightly over the month — by 1%. It is noted that the price dynamics close to stagnation (fluctuations from -0.5 to +0.5%) in the secondary market was recorded in seven of the 16 Russian megacities.

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