Moscow authorities say they will defend the preferential rights of Muscovites when purchasing residential real estate. Vlast columnist Andrei Voskresensky believes that, on the contrary, it would be worthwhile to provide preferences to nonresident buyers, who suffer more than Muscovites from rising housing prices.

About six months ago, the Moscow government became concerned about making housing in Moscow more affordable for Muscovites. Specifically for Muscovites, and not for buyers in general. At the beginning of the year, a special resolution was adopted “On the medium-term housing program “Affordable housing for Muscovites” for the period 2007-2009 and targets for 2010.” In accordance with it, developers will have to sell part of the economy-class housing at preferential prices to Muscovites. The decree considers Muscovites to be those who have lived in the capital for ten or more years, and not some abstract “indigenous residents.”

The point, in fact, is not about how consistent it is with the Constitution to provide citizens with advantages depending on their place of residence (human rights activists, of course, have their own thoughts on this matter). And it’s not even about whether this resolution will actually apply (developers are already stocking up on databases of “ten-year-old Muscovites” for fictitious registration of primary sales, just in case). The point is what is the real reason for rising prices. Is it really true that “those who come here in large numbers” are buying up real estate, and it is primarily the native Muscovites who suffer from this?

According to realtors, approximately 80% of the financial volume of residential real estate purchase and sale transactions are actually hidden exchanges, when a person sells an existing apartment in order to buy another, larger or smaller area. In real estate parlance, these are called “alternative deals.” That is, a person who buys, for example, a two-room apartment for $250 thousand, actually puts $100 thousand into circulation on the market (it does not matter whether it is his own funds or a loan), the rest is what he received from the sale of his one-room apartment. In turn, the buyer of his apartment may have sold a smaller one on the outskirts and paid an additional $50 thousand of his own. The chain of sellers and buyers can be as long as desired, but at some point it must close, that is, a “no alternative” buyer must appear who does not sell anything, but buys a piece of real estate for “real” money (again, it doesn’t matter - own or borrowed money). These “closers” are usually people from other cities. Of course, there are also Muscovites who do not sell their own apartment, but immediately buy a new one. It’s just that Muscovites, as a rule, have something to sell, while non-residents, by definition, do not (otherwise they are already Muscovites).

That is, the housing market in Moscow is developing mainly thanks to visitors. And they are the ones least of all interested in raising prices.

Let's do a simple calculation. Let’s say that over the course of a year, a square meter has increased in price by an average of one ruble. A Muscovite who decided to expand his living space, for example, from 60 to 80 square meters. m, forced to pay 20 rubles. more than I would have paid a year ago. And a non-resident buyer buying his apartment pays a full 60 rubles extra. In other words, in this case, the price increase hits non-residents three times harder than it hits Muscovites. In fact, the difference is even greater, since the smaller the apartment area, the more expensive the square meter. That is, an “expanding” Muscovite pays less for a new apartment (based on the price per square meter) than he gets for the old one.

If we take another option - exchanging a larger apartment for a smaller one, then the benefit of Muscovites from rising prices is completely obvious. A family of pensioners who decide to move from a two-room Moscow apartment to a one-room apartment in environmentally friendly Balashikha receives good capital from the difference in prices. Five years ago, due to the extra 20 sq. It was only possible to make good repairs, but now to ensure a prosperous old age.

Finally, let’s not forget that a huge number of Muscovites (even the fiscal services don’t know exactly how many) live by renting out apartments. Even if rental rates are not growing as quickly as the price per square meter, the welfare of apartment owners (that is, Muscovites) is steadily increasing - and, we note, again, mainly due to visitors.

In principle, the very concept of “nonresident buyer” is a purely Russian concept, even purely Moscow. In London or New York, no one would even think of estimating how many residents of Birmingham or Boston flocked to them with their money to buy real estate closer to the world's stock exchange centers. Foreigners are, of course, taken into account there. For example, it is known that in New York, 34% of residential property buyers are foreigners, and in London - as much as 50%. And this doesn’t scare anyone, no one is passing any protectionist laws, no one has heard of the “Affordable Housing” program for Londoners. On the contrary, everyone is happy that money earned in other countries is spent in their cities.

Here they are not happy, but believe that “out-of-towners are buying up Moscow and thereby inflating real estate prices.” This, of course, is nothing more than a delusion of the average person, and it would not be worth paying attention to it if not for one circumstance: this is exactly the approach that the Moscow government has adopted.

Those who bought it here