In Russia, sales of apartments in new buildings have collapsed by 35%

In the first month of 2026, developers sold 35% fewer residential premises than in December, when the peak housing sales figures for the entire history of the Russian real estate market were recorded. At the same time, in a number of million-plus cities, the drop was almost 50%. This was reported to Izvestia on March 3 by analysts of the Movement.ru", who studied the data of the Unified Housing Construction Information System (UISWS).

According to the study, 88.2 thousand apartments were sold in Russia in December, but in January this figure fell to 57.3 thousand.

"The reduction is expected. Firstly, there is the factor of seasonality and the beginning of the year with two weeks of holidays. Secondly, in December we had an absolute sales record for the entire history — 88 thousand lots, which is even more than in June 2024, when the basic preferential mortgage was canceled. Peak sales were recorded in the fourth quarter, buyers wanted to take out a family mortgage before its terms changed in February, and amid talk of further tightening," the head of the Movement analytical center explained to Izvestia.<url>" by Yan Gravshin.

According to the study, among the cities with millions of people, sales sank the most in Samara — 47.7%, Volgograd — 47%, Nizhny Novgorod — 46%, Novosibirsk — 43%, Moscow -41.5%, Kazan -41.4% and Voronezh - 39.4%.

Sales volumes in Krasnodar, Omsk and St. Petersburg decreased not so significantly (by less than 20%). At the same time, the city on the Neva, which showed the smallest decrease in sales in January, became the record holder for sales in the first month of 2026 among all Russian megacities. Developers have sold 6.6 thousand residential premises, overtaking Moscow (6.1 thousand apartments sold).

At a low start: the mortgage lending market has revived in Russia

In January, the number of disbursements increased threefold.

On February 27, Metrium analysts reported that the average price of a meter in luxury renovated real estate is close to 3 million rubles. In Moscow, this exclusive format of real estate is most common in the high-budget housing market (elite and deluxe class).

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