Russians bought a record number of apartments on the secondary market in December

The Avito Real Estate technology platform summed up the results of 2025 in the secondary housing market. In Russia as a whole, the volume of sales under the purchase and sale agreement (PREP) decreased by 3% compared to the previous year. At the same time, the second half of the year was much more active: it accounted for 58% of all transactions of the year. And December 2025 showed record values over the past two years. In the final month, 164 thousand PREP were registered: this is 33% more than November 2025 and 15% more than December 2024. This was reported to Izvestia on January 28.

The share of mortgage transactions in the secondary housing market by the end of 2025 was 25% (in 2024 - 32%). Against the background of the reduction in the key rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the indicator increased from 17% in January to 30% in December.

The leading regions in terms of the number of PREP in 2025 were Moscow (90.1 thousand PREP), Moscow Region (89.6 thousand PREP), St. Petersburg (62.7 thousand PREP), Sverdlovsk Region (50.9 thousand PREP) and the Krasnodar Territory (48.2 thousand PREP).

According to the Avito Real Estate website, the top 5 most popular cities among the service's users are St. Petersburg, Moscow, Krasnodar, Kazan and Rostov-on-Don. Compared to the same month last year, interest in objects on the secondary market increased in 20 of the 41 cities in the study. Residents of Arkhangelsk (+17%), Tomsk, Omsk and Saratov (+9% each), Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnoyarsk and St. Petersburg (+8%), Kurgan (+7%), Murmansk, Chelyabinsk and Novorossiysk (+6%), Sochi (+5%) and in eight other major cities.

Two-bedroom and one-bedroom apartments attract the most attention of users on the Avito Real Estate platform: their shares in the structure of interest amounted to 35 and 32%. 19% of Russians were interested in three—room facilities, while 4% were interested in facilities with four rooms or more.

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The offer on the platform in the secondary housing segment decreased by 5% year-on-year, while it became easier to find a suitable apartment in 13 cities. In Murmansk, the choice increased by 15%, in Kurgan — by 12%, in Arkhangelsk — by 10%, in Omsk — by 9%, in Voronezh and Barnaul — by 8% each, in Sochi — by 6%, in Izhevsk — by 5%.

The average cost per square meter in 2025 was 149 thousand rubles, which is 5% higher than in 2024. At the same time, compared to December 2024, apartments have become more affordable in Murmansk and Vorkuta (-3% in both), Sochi and Arkhangelsk (-2% in each). In the reporting month, the square cost the cheapest in Magnitogorsk (80 thousand rubles), Kurgan (86 thousand rubles), Kostroma (87 thousand rubles), Ulyanovsk (90 thousand rubles) and Orenburg (91 thousand rubles). Analysts noted the highest average prices in Moscow within the MKAD (551 thousand rubles per 1 sq. m.). Sochi (299 thousand rubles) and St. Petersburg (256 thousand rubles).

"The last quarter of 2025, especially December, showed record values. The traditional seasonality of the market partly played a role here, however, both the relative growth and the absolute figures for December 2025 are ahead of the previous year. This indicates the activation of pent-up demand in response to the reduction in the key interest rate of the Russian Federation and the softening of the conditions of banks. In addition, we attribute the high December figures to the fact that clients were eager to sell apartments in order to have time to buy new ones under the old terms of the "Family Mortgage." Some Russians, who had previously postponed solving the housing issue, are gradually returning to considering buying their own apartment, and investors are investing in real estate after funds are released from deposits. Depending on the further policy of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation on the key rate, the market recovery trend has every chance to continue in 2026," commented Sergey Eremkin, Managing Director of secondary and suburban real estate at Avito Real Estate.

Earlier, on December 25, it was reported that in half of Russia's million-plus cities, the cost per square meter on the secondary market remained virtually unchanged or decreased in December. According to analysts of the Yandex Real Estate service, the median price of a "square" averaged 149 thousand rubles in megacities, an increase of only 0.7% compared to November.

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