Prices for apartments in St. Petersburg can grow one and a half times over the year

This year, apartments in St. Petersburg can grow one and a half times - such a disappointing forecast is made by real estate market specialists. The reason is the lack of liquid offers with high demand from buyers.

The revival in the housing market, which began in the middle of last year, went into excitement in the first quarter of this year. “They waited for the demand, but predicted for August-September, but already in February-March the market showed growth both in terms of sales and in terms of prices,” said Nikolai Pashkov, head of the St. Petersburg Real Estate Marketing Department.

According to him, for the first quarter of 2006, the cost of one square meter has increased by 7%, and now the average cost of the transaction in the secondary market is about $ 1,200 per square meter, but it is almost impossible to find a decent option for less than $ 1400. In the primary market, the average cost per square meter cost has already exceeded $ 1,100, but at such a price increase, it is possible that the price of $ 1,500 is a matter of several months.

Pashkov says that the rise in price, as a rule, begins with the cheapest options: in the primary market these are studio apartments and one-room apartments, on the secondary-apartments in old panel houses and Khrushchevs. Following them, the rest are “pulled up”, since now most of the transactions are used using exchange schemes. The rise in price always begins with popular areas: Moscow, Vyborg, Primorsky, western part of the Vasilievsky Island. In a month or two, they manage to break forward, and when people cannot withstand such prices, they go to buy to other areas. Another trend is the outflow of part of demand in the secondary market in the region - areas located near the city.

President of the Association of Rieltors of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region Pavel Stepan said that now housing prices are rising by 0.8-1% per week, and there are no prerequisites for slowing down growth. And if over the past year the cost of housing has increased by 15%, then this year we can expect a increase of 50%. In his opinion, the price growth trend will continue in the next 3-5 years, but it will be Pikov in 2006 due to the gap between the proposal and demand.

The reason for the growth of demand for housing was a serious shortage of liquid offers in both the secondary and primary housing market. There are almost no good apartments in the secondary market: good options, according to Nikolai Pashkov, do not even appear in the public domain - agencies distribute them on their own. The development of the primary market for almost 1.5 years was inhibited due to the law on shared construction. Pavel Stepan is sure that great demand stimulates the activities of builders, but the market stabilization should not be waiting earlier than 2009, since the investment and construction cycle is 3-3.5 years.

Demand for housing is growing in connection with an increase in the availability of mortgages. Last year, about 4.5 thousand mortgage loans were issued in St. Petersburg, this year is expected to increase to 7.5 thousand. If three years ago, using mortgage schemes, less than 0.1% of transactions were made, now their share reaches 2%. For the first quarter of 2006, 1800 mortgage loans were already issued in the city. The size of the loan is also growing: in 2004, it amounted to 25-30 thousand dollars, and in the first quarter of 2006 - exceeded 35 thousand dollars.