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- Residential and Duma: prices for new buildings are growing fastest in St. Petersburg and Ufa
Residential and Duma: prices for new buildings are growing fastest in St. Petersburg and Ufa
St. Petersburg topped the rating of million-plus cities (but Moscow was not included in it) in terms of the growth rate of prices for new buildings over the year, analysts told Izvestia. The average price per square meter there increased by 19.6%. In addition, such housing is rapidly becoming more expensive in Ufa, Perm, Voronezh, Krasnoyarsk and Omsk. In the whole country, the cost of the "square" increased by 13.5% over the year. And a further increase in prices is still hindered by limited demand — buyers are in a waiting position, hoping that loans will become more affordable. About where else prices for new buildings have increased, see the Izvestia article.
In which cities prices have jumped
Prices on the primary real estate market have increased the most in St. Petersburg in a year, analysts at the NDV Real Estate Supermarket agency and the Evolution development company told Izvestia. Calculations were carried out in all million-plus cities with the exception of Moscow, since in the capital the price increase is constant and develops according to special laws.
The average price per square meter in St. Petersburg increased by 19.6% over the year, reaching 357.5 thousand rubles. Ufa took the second place, where the price of the "square" rose by 16.4%, to 194.6 thousand. Perm holds the third place with an increase in the average cost by 14.4%, to 177 thousand. Several cities were marked on the fourth line at once: Voronezh, Krasnoyarsk and Omsk, where the price increased by 10.1–12.6% (148.5 thousand,155,4 thousand and 157 thousand, respectively).
Compared to last year, the average price per square meter in the primary housing market in the million-plus cities increased by 13.5%, said Yulia Bocharnikova, executive director of the federal company "Floors". According to her data, the largest growth rate was recorded in Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Volgograd and Kazan, while the lowest was in Rostov-on-Don.
"There has been no decrease in the average price per square meter in new buildings in any of the megacities," she noted.
St. Petersburg was also the leader in the weighted average price per square meter in March 2026, said Elena Chegodaeva, head of the analytics and consulting department at NDV Real Estate Supermarket.
"This city holds the lead in terms of the cost of luxury housing, where the price was 863.8 thousand rubles per square meter," she said. — Comfort class is estimated at 231.9 thousand per 1 sq. m.
Kazan took the second place with 280 thousand, Nizhny Novgorod took the third place (223.8 thousand). The most affordable housing is in Samara, where the average cost per square meter was 130.6 thousand rubles, and the comfort class is estimated at 123.4 thousand.
By segment, there was a tendency for a more accelerated increase in the weighted average price in business class. For example, Volgograd — by 12.9%, Voronezh — by 14.3%, Krasnodar — by 14.5%, Perm — by 12.3%, St. Petersburg — by 20.3%, Ufa — by 23.6%.
"This dynamic is due to the growing demand for this class of housing against the background of high mortgage rates, which are still inaccessible to the mass segment," explained Elena Goryacheva, Commercial Director of Evolution. — Installments, 100% payment, and a large proportion of mortgage transactions are actively used in the high-budget segment.
In the capital, according to the results of the first quarter, a square meter in massive new buildings in "old" Moscow costs an average of 416.5 thousand rubles — an increase of 22.6% over the year, said Yulia Ivanova, director of the analytics and consulting department at Metrium.
"In business class, the average cost is 545.8 thousand rubles, 15% higher, in premium class - 902.6 thousand, by 18.2% per year, in the elite segment — 2.4 million," the expert added. — In the context of all segments, the average price of a "square" of primary housing in the capital reached 729.8 thousand rubles, an increase of 24.4% over the year.
Will prices continue to rise
The restrained dynamics of the growth in the cost of primary housing was demonstrated in the first half of 2025, Yulia Bocharnikova said. Demand was limited then, and new restrictions on family mortgages were announced in the second half of the year.
"At the same time, the Central Bank began to gradually ease monetary policy, as a result, consumer activity began to grow, and the most affordable options were bought out of the market," she added. — This has increased the average price per square meter in new buildings. Of course, inflationary pressures, the cost of credit resources for developers, and the shortage of available labor resources are also affecting.
At the same time, over the same period from April 2024 to April 2025, the average price per square meter in the primary housing market in Russia's million-plus cities increased by 10%, and in the period from April 2023 to April 2024 - by 11.1%, Yulia Bocharnikova recalled.
"Currently, limited demand will slow down the growth dynamics of the average price per square meter in new buildings, but they are unlikely to go down," the expert believes. — Most likely, the cost will increase within the limits of real inflation. Consumer demand will be stimulated by individual offers, discounts and various options for subsidizing mortgage loans.
Denis Zhalnin, CEO of the People development company, noted that the primary housing market is currently undergoing another qualitative transformation. In the total volume of launches in 2026, the share of comfort-class housing is almost 65%, in 2025 it was at the level of 61%.
"This is one of the indicators of the growing competition for a paying buyer, both between developers and the secondary housing market," he said. — The buyer is becoming more selective, so developers are investing in the purchase of land in the most attractive locations, service, quality of housing and landscaping, architectural solutions, which ultimately affects the growth of the final price per square meter.
In fact, modern comfort-class residential complexes often outperform the business class in terms of their equipment, which was a few years ago. In addition, the cost includes inflation risks and the cost of credit resources.
The rise in primary prices in 2025-2026 is a natural structural shift, says Valery Tumin, Director of Russian and CIS Markets at Pham Properties. Developers, even with a decline in demand, do not reduce the cost, but reduce the launch of new projects.
"This creates a shortage of liquid supply, and it is this that keeps prices down," the expert emphasized. — At the same time, the share of elite projects is growing: in the first quarter of 2026, half of new projects in Moscow were in the elite and de-luxury segments — a maximum of six years. This automatically pulls the average cost up, even if the mass segment is actually standing still.
There is no reason to expect a decrease in prices in the foreseeable future, but there is also a sharp increase, says Valery Tumin. According to him, when the mortgage returns to 12% per annum, and for this the key one must fall below 10%, the accumulated pent-up demand will spill out onto the market. Then the cost per square meter will go up.
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