Experts noted the growing demand for new buildings in St. Petersburg

The reduction in the key rate of the Bank of Russia has led to an increase in demand for new buildings in St. Petersburg. After the spring recession, the volume of transactions began to increase, although the market has not yet reached the peak values of last year. This was reported on September 3 by the Delovoy Peterburg newspaper.

According to the St. Petersburg Real Estate consulting center, if in May–June the number of transactions in the St. Petersburg residential real estate market was at the level of 4.6 thousand, then in August this figure reached 5.5 thousand transactions, that is, it increased by 20%.

"The last month of summer turned out to be really hot both in terms of the number of requests and the transactions carried out. The attention of buyers is attracted by apartments in ready-made houses and apartments in facilities where the start of sales was announced quite recently. In the first case, they most often use a preferential family mortgage program, and at the start they use installment programs from the developer," said Ekaterina Nemchenko, commercial director of the RSTI holding.

One of the key factors stimulating the market was the reduction in the key rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Olga Trosheva, Director of Petersburg Real Estate, noted that the share of mortgage transactions at base rates has increased from 15% to 18-20% in the total structure of loan transactions. Family mortgages mainly prevail, which accounts for about 80% of demand in August. In mortgage-free transactions, the installment plan remains the driver, accounting for at least 40% of demand.

They lived and sold: second-hand goods fell in price in a third of Russia's regions at once

What is the reason for this and will it lead to a crisis in apartment sales in new buildings?

"Every decrease in the key interest rate leads to an increase in demand for the purchase of real estate with a mortgage. At the same time, now a significant proportion are customers with family mortgages. But it is possible that with a decrease in the key rate, activity among buyers under market programs will begin," said Yana Virchenko, Commercial Director of Polis Group.

Sergey Sofronov, Commercial Director of the PSK Group of Companies, believes that a 2 percentage point reduction in the rate does not yet indicate a return of mass interest in market mortgages. Interest from buyers is growing, but they are mostly motivated to purchase and consider the rate cut as an opportunity to refinance in the future.

The summer months, previously considered a time of seasonal recession due to vacations, have demonstrated sustained demand, especially for business-class housing. Daniil Kuznetsov, Director of Commercial Unit Development at Element, said that revenue in August increased by 25% compared to July. This growth is due to pent-up demand, an effective sales strategy and the activation of regional buyers.

As noted by Ksenia Sadkova, Sales Director of LEGENDA, in August, sales volume for projects in St. Petersburg increased by 25% per month. Consumer demand is returning from deposits to the real estate market, she added.

The start of the autumn season is ahead, when demand is most often increasing. Experts believe that while maintaining a positive scenario, the key interest rate of 16-17% will enable banks to offer more affordable mortgage products and expand the range of market participants. The following tools are offered: reduced rates, minimum down payments, and long installments, which makes payments more convenient for customers. At the same time, market participants note a decrease in the willingness of developers to provide installments.

Let's buy one, keep six in mind: the average overpayment on a market mortgage has exceeded 21 million

Why do people rent apartments even at a rate of 22% and when will real estate become more affordable

"The share of installments is not increasing: developers are careful, they would rather prefer to give additional discounts with 100% payment. There are practically no transactions with market mortgages. All that is available is mainly a family mortgage," said Maxim Yeltsov, CEO of PIA Real Estate.

Summer interest in real estate was especially fueled by regional buyers, who accounted for 35-40% of transactions. Many of them solved the housing issue before the start of the school and business season.

According to Angelika Alshayeva, Commercial Director of KVS Group, August turned out to be particularly active this year, primarily due to increased demand from parents whose children enrolled in St. Petersburg universities.

"We see a significant increase in the number of students from the regions, especially from new territories and border regions. St. Petersburg remains one of the most attractive cities for higher education — calm, promising, with a high quality of life," the expert concluded.

On August 28, financial market expert and economist Andrey Barkhota told Izvestia that secondary housing has fallen in price in a third of the country's regions. In the second quarter, the Central Bank recorded a decrease in the average price by 1 sq.m. m in 27 regions of the Russian Federation. The level of housing supply is sufficient to ensure that prices decrease quickly in the face of a decrease in the number of mortgage transactions.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.