New horizons have opened up for developers / E. Kuzmina / Vedomosti

In January-October 2013, 963,100 sq. m of housing were commissioned in the Leningrad Region, which is 26.6% more than in the same period of 2012; in October, 173,000 sq. m were commissioned, 2.4 times more than a year earlier, according to the Petrostat website. The delivery of housing in St. Petersburg over 10 months also increased - by 32% to 2.1 million sq. m, the city construction committee reported. According to Petrostat, the most housing was commissioned in the Vsevolozhsk District of the Leningrad Region - 543,200 sq. m, the least in Slantsevsky - 1,000 sq. m.

Since the beginning of the year, Setl City has commissioned four buildings (1,264 apartments) with a total area of about 72,000 sq. m in the Leningrad Region, the company's press service reports. Setl City is implementing two large integrated development projects in the Leningrad Region - "Seven Capitals" (670,000 sq. m) and "Greenlandia" (400,000 sq. m). According to the press service, three buildings with a total area of 48,600 sq. m will be commissioned in the region by the end of the year. The Leningrad Region already accounts for 70% of the Lenstroytrest portfolio, said the company's CEO Alexander Lelin. According to him, developers are moving to the Leningrad Region due to the lack of land in St. Petersburg for large integrated development projects and difficulties with coordinating construction documentation. This trend emerged about a year and a half ago and is now beginning to be reflected in the statistics, says Lelin. In the region, the situation and the position of the authorities regarding the housing market under construction are much more loyal to developers, in addition, the experience of companies that were the first to start construction in the region has shown that Petersburgers have demand for such projects, notes Andrey Tetysh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ARIN. City residents are willing to buy suburban housing, despite their regional registration, confirms Lelin. In most cases, it is easier and cheaper to build in the Leningrad Region, the cost of land, connecting utilities and creating the necessary infrastructure is lower, Tetysh reasons.

This year, eight integrated development projects have been launched in the suburban areas of the Leningrad Region, with a total of 262,000 square meters available for sale, says Olga Trosheva, head of the Petersburg Real Estate consulting center. The total supply on the primary market in the region is 1.15 million square meters, she said. The region accounts for 32.2% of housing sold on the primary market in the first nine months of 2013, while last year this share was about 30%, Trosheva notes. Residential complexes in Murino and Kudrov are in the greatest demand. The average asking price for mass-market housing in the suburban areas was 68,100 rubles per square meter, up 4.6% over 10 months, Trosheva estimates. In Murino, the price is 74,200 rubles per square meter. m, in Novodevyatkino - 76,000 rubles, in Kudrov - 87,600 rubles. Apartments with similar characteristics in the city are 15-30% more expensive, says Tetysh. In Setl City properties, depending on the characteristics of a specific project and the stage of readiness, average prices in St. Petersburg and the region differ by 8-17%, the company's press service reports. The average cost of one-room apartments in suburban properties does not exceed 2 million rubles, says Polina Yakovleva, director of the new buildings department at NAI Becar. According to her, buyer demand has now turned towards low-rise residential complexes; in the Leningrad Region, there are about 500 mini-settlements in varying degrees of readiness, mainly aimed at the middle class.

Recently, demand for housing in the Leningrad Region has grown by 20-25%, estimates Tetysh. All Setl City projects - both urban and suburban - show positive demand dynamics; in the third quarter of 2013, Setl City concluded 52.3% more transactions than in the same period of 2012, the company's press service reports.

By the end of the year, about 1.5-1.8 million square meters will be commissioned in the region; in the coming years, the volumes of commissioning in the region and the city may become equal, Tetysh predicts.

Suburban construction sites