Kirpichny klyuch: private houses have become more accessible to Russians

The cost of building your own house in most regions of Russia has decreased by 10-15% compared to last year, construction companies reported. The reason is that blocks of aerated concrete and expanded clay, as well as silicate blocks, which are popular for the construction of private homes, have fallen in price by 25-30%. Due to the introduction of escrow accounts in individual housing construction (IHS) and the low availability of credit resources, the current season began with a more moderate demand, experts noted. The information about the situation on the building materials market and whether to expect an increase in their cost is in the Izvestia article.

Which building materials have become cheaper

In some regions of Russia, the price of a number of building materials used for the construction of private homes has decreased, market participants told Izvestia. According to the Porevit wall materials plant, prices for aerated concrete fell by 30%, for silicate blocks — by 22%, and for expanded clay blocks — by 29%. Maxim Lazovsky, the owner of the Lazovsky House construction company, also confirmed the trend.

"This year, due to the introduction of escrow accounts in residential housing and the low availability of credit resources, the construction season began with a more moderate demand than it has been observed in the last couple of years," said Pavel Kokarev, the plant's leading process engineer. — Against this background, some of the main building materials, which traditionally rise in price at the start of the season, turned out to be cheaper by 25-30% than a year earlier.

In the second half of 2024, many of those who planned to build their homes postponed their start due to the high cost of materials and the unavailability of mortgage loans. Some banks refused to issue family mortgages, among other things. As a result, Russians preferred to put their accumulated funds into deposits before the start of the construction season, the expert believes.

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In addition to the prices of aerated concrete blocks, the cost of metal is also falling, which means that the roof and fittings are getting cheaper, Maxim Lazovsky added.

"If the decrease in block prices is due to new investors entering the niche, then the decrease in metal prices of about 15% is due to a drop in construction volumes," he said.

According to his estimates, the drop in value is about 20% compared to the average price last year.

— If we compare with peak prices, it can be 30%, — the expert added.

At the same time, cement has risen in price by an average of 10% this year, concrete — by 10-15%, Pavel Kokarev added.

There was a noticeable increase in prices for most building materials in the first half of 2024, then its pace slowed down, and individual items fell in price, said Olga Magilina, head of the department of suburban real estate at VSN Group.

— Since the winter, prices have gone up again, and if you look, for example, at gas blocks that are extremely popular in the construction of country houses, then November-December 2024 became the conditional bottom of the fall in prices for them, — said the expert. — And if we compare the purchase price of this material year-on-year, then from March 2024 to March 2025, gas blocks rose in price by about 15%.

According to her, the prices of concrete and cement rose by 10%, and they also increased for crushed stone.

What is the reason for the price drop?

The situation on the building materials market has become more profitable for buyers in recent months, confirmed Igor Rastorguev, an economist and a leading analyst at the AMarkets brokerage company. According to him, the cheaper building blocks, which form the basis of many private homes, are associated with lower prices for raw materials for their production. In the regions where the construction of houses from these materials is most popular, the price reduction is noticeable, the expert noted.

The price dynamics are influenced by inflation, the cost of obtaining raw materials, and the cost of operating production equipment, Olga Magilina said.

— In addition, the demand factor is important. When the demand for a material increases, sooner or later it starts to rise in price, unless some kind of government price regulation is introduced," she added.

Now, the expert noted, houses in the elite and at the same time in the low-price segment are selling well, and the "middle class" has noticeably sagged. As a result, the demand, for example, for high-quality aerated concrete has noticeably decreased, while for the cheapest varieties it has remained stable. According to her, this trend can be traced in almost all groups of building materials.

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The interest of Russians in buying suburban real estate in the first quarter of 2025 decreased by a record 16% compared to the same period last year, added Anton Saukov, head of the center for suburban real estate at the federal company Floors.

"The increased cost of land for construction and the reduced availability of credit resources played a role," the expert explained. — But the market is gradually adapting, and we are already seeing growing interest, especially in the land segment. Over the past month, it has grown sharply by 22%.

Right now, the most sought-after areas are those with good access roads. In the wake of lower prices for building materials, buyers want to be able to purchase them before the seasonal rise in prices. Another advantage of temporary cooling is the reduced demand for construction crews. Now they are ready to make discounts — at the level of 10-15% of last year's peak prices.

However, Maxim Lazovsky noted, the estimate of the house has decreased, but not by a multiple.

"Prices for wood, engineering, varnishes, paint, etc. have not changed," he explained. — Although now it is possible to seek discounts for contract work, as there are fewer and fewer orders. Therefore, on average, the estimate of the house decreased by 10%.

Reducing the cost of construction does not always mean reducing the total value of real estate, Igor Rastorguev added. Even if the basic cost of materials has decreased, the cost of the final product may not change so significantly.

Will prices for building materials rise

A significant decrease in cost is a temporary phenomenon, and as demand increases, prices will at least return to the level of last year, Pavel Kokarev noted. The peak cost is expected at the height of the construction season — in July-August.

— Due to the low availability of credit resources, Russians, on the one hand, began to optimize the area of houses and perform some of the work on their own, on the other hand, increased the planned completion time. Often in the first year, by building only the box of the future house, they reduce the burden on the family budget," the expert said.

Prices for new homes tend to decrease with a delay relative to the cost of construction, as developers take into account changes in prices for materials and labor in the planning process of their facilities, added Valery Tumin, Director of Russian and CIS Markets at fam Properties.

"This may lead to more affordable homes for buyers appearing on the residential housing market in the near future, and this is encouraging," the expert said.

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But in more remote and hard-to-reach regions, lower prices for materials may not have such a strong impact on construction costs, as logistics and delivery remain high, Igor Rastorguev noted.

Director of the portal "Vseostroike.Russian Federation" Svetlana Opryshko added that in 2025 it is worth being more prepared for an increase in prices for building materials, rather than counting on their further reduction.

"One of the factors holding back price growth may be a decrease in demand due to an unaffordable mortgage," the expert said. — But, on the other hand, including against the background of a high key rate, manufacturers' costs for the purchase of raw materials and logistics are increasing.

In addition, if the volume of building materials produced decreases against the background of a decrease in demand for housing, then the cost of producing these goods will naturally increase, and this will affect the cost of building a house.