Petersburgers who sell housing to the city were offered to be exempt from tax

In St. Petersburg, a bill has been developed that will exempt sellers from paying personal income tax (personal income tax) when selling an apartment owned by the city. The initiative, which will be considered by the Legislative Assembly in the near future, is aimed at encouraging citizens to participate in replenishing the housing stock for social needs. This was reported on November 10 by the Delovoy Peterburg newspaper.

As Denis Chetyolbok, one of the authors of the document, Chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee of the Legislative Assembly, explained to DP, the proposed measure will reduce the tax burden on residents and simplify the purchase of real estate in the secondary market for the city.

"This will contribute to the active replenishment of the housing fund of St. Petersburg," he said.

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Currently, when selling housing that has been owned for less than five years, the seller is required to pay personal income tax. For certain categories, such as housing inherited or donated by close relatives, this period has been reduced to three years. The new bill extends the three-year grace period to real estate sales to the city authorities, completely exempting them from tax in this case.

The relevance of the initiative has increased against the background of the fact that the cadastral value of housing in recent years has come as close as possible to the market. This led to a significant increase in the amount of tax for sellers, especially for those who purchased apartments during the construction phase for subsequent resale. However, according to experts, it is not always possible to include the full amount of tax in the transaction price.

According to Dmitry Shchegelsky, CEO of the BENOIS Real Estate Agency and president of the National Chamber of Real Estate, the initiative can expand the market supply.

"This initiative does not portend anything special for the market, the message of the bill is simply to remove the statute of limitations for taxation," he believes.

As practice has shown, in 2023 the city acquired 282 properties, in 2024 - 341, and in 2025 — 215. At the same time, according to the data of the Unified Information System "Procurement", suppliers for many lots are often the same individuals or individual entrepreneurs. Analysts see potential sellers primarily as "flippers" — investors specializing in buying homes at a discount and then reselling them after renovation.

A similar tax benefit is already in effect in 21 regions of Russia. In the Altai Republic and the Tomsk Region, for example, the deadline for owning real estate to be exempt from personal income tax upon sale to the state is only one month. It is expected that the adoption of the bill in St. Petersburg will increase the volume of housing purchases for urban needs, providing sellers with an additional incentive to work with the municipality.

Earlier, on October 1, experts from the Metrium company told Izvestia about the typical mistakes of owners of premium, elite and deluxe class apartments who strive to create a "dream apartment" but forget about future resale. It was noted that the main reason is excessive individualization of housing.

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