Khrushchev's bypassed the new fund in the secondary market by the growth of the average transaction receipt

Housing built in the 1960s and 1970s has been rising in price faster in Russia for the fourth quarter in a row than newer housing stock in the ready-made housing market. The analysts of the Zhilfond company told Izvestia about this on September 1.

By the end of July, according to Roskadaster, 142.9 thousand transactions in the secondary housing market were concluded in all regions of Russia, which is 22% more than a year earlier, and a record since the beginning of the year.

The total volume of transactions in the secondary real estate market in Russia today is dominated by two main cohorts: housing built in the 1960s and 1970s and the 2010s and 2020s. Together, they have accounted for over 65% of all transactions in Russia and almost 70% in Moscow over the past two years. The first segment is the legacy of the Soviet industrial housing program: in 1966-1975, more than 1 billion square meters were built in the country. m housing. The second is the result of record commissioning in recent years: since 2020, Russia has been building more housing than in any year of Soviet history.

If we compare the dynamics of the average transaction receipt for these two categories year-on—year, it becomes clear that the old fund has been growing in price faster than the new in recent months, and the pace accelerated markedly in the second quarter: the average bill for housing in the 1960s and 1970s increased by 11.1% year-on-year, while new housing - by only 6.3%. At the same time, the old fund in Russia is growing in price faster than the new one for the fourth quarter in a row, whereas before that it showed the opposite dynamics. Analysts note that the reason was the general activation of the real estate market.

If we look at the dynamics separately in the capital, here the Khrushchev and Brezhnev families came out ahead in terms of growth rates only in 2026: the average year—on-year increase in the old fund in the second quarter was 15.7%, while in the new fund it was only 11.7%. In the first quarter, the old fund increased in price by 9.7%, while the new fund increased by 7.9%. Throughout 2025, the growth dynamics of the average check in the new fund was ahead of the old one, and by a large margin.

What is happening with the dynamics in different cohorts is a very significant trend, says Alexander Chernokulsky, director of Zhilfond.

"The growth in the volume of transactions and the average check in the old fund is slightly delayed by the general increase in market activity. A simple rule works here: when the supply accumulates after a period of downtime, buyers first choose the most interesting options from the exhibition at the lowest prices, and when these run out, they switch to less liquid and interesting prices. What we see in the dynamics of demand and the average receipt is that when demand falls, it falls faster for the old fund, and when it recovers, it occurs with a noticeable time lag in the old fund. This is especially evident in transactions on the secondary market in Moscow, where the volume of new housing is simply greater than in any other region, so people turn to the old fund later and prices rise late," he said.

According to Chernokulsky, the trend towards reducing the liquidity of apartments in the old fund will only develop. Given the volume of new housing starts and depreciation of the old stock, the gap in demand between old and new housing will continue to grow. At the same time, it is different in different regions: the less new housing is being built in the city, the less competition the old fund has.

Empty walls: developers cannot sell 45% of apartments in new buildings

Does this threaten the bankruptcy of developers and why are they building even more in this situation?

Analytical company bnMAP.pro On August 22, she said that in July 2026, 18.79 thousand lots were recorded in transactions with new buildings in the primary housing market of 16 million-plus cities in Russia, as well as Tyumen, which is not included in the list of million-plus cities, which is 1.6% less than in June. Moscow traditionally remains the leader in terms of transaction volume — 4.34 thousand lots, which is 1.9% more than in June. In St. Petersburg, 2.65 thousand lots were registered (+0.8%), in Yekaterinburg — 1.76 thousand (+3.5%). Rostov-on-Don (1,22 thousand, +2.5%) and Krasnodar (1,20 thousand, -18.4%) rounded out the top five largest markets.