Half of the transactions with secondary housing in 2022 were made by proxy • The Bell • RIMA

Half of the transactions with secondary housing in 2022 were made by proxy

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In 2022, 50% of transactions for the sale of housing on the secondary market in Russia were made through a notarized power of attorney, Kommersant writes , citing data from the Flip investment company. This is an unprecedented number (in 2021 there were no more than 20% of such transactions, and four years ago, in 2018 - only 5%) and shows that those who moved abroad urgently got rid of Russian real estate.

In general, in the country in 2022, 3.9 million transactions were concluded in the secondary market, which is 7% less year-on-year. Most of this volume fell on Moscow, the Moscow region and the Krasnodar Territory.

The department of urban real estate "NDV Supermarket Real Estate" confirms this trend. They note that the surge in sales of apartments by proxy began after the announcement of the mobilization. Inkom-Nedvizhimost added that powers of attorney were often confirmed by foreign notaries and Russian consulates abroad.

Miel believes that there could have been even more transactions by proxy, but some owners, before leaving Russia, instead of powers of attorney, made donations for apartments to close relatives, who then sold the housing. Others took advantage of the opportunity to execute transactions for the sale of housing remotely, using electronic signatures.

At the same time, as a rule, when selling an apartment by proxy, the price for it is at least 10% lower, Miel notes. And potential buyers are not always willing to agree to such transactions, fearing fraud and errors in the sale and purchase agreement, which are difficult to correct without the owner.

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The war provoked two large waves of emigration from Russia. The exact number of those who left and did not return was not disclosed by the authorities. According to the minimum estimates of The Bell, more than 500 thousand people left their homeland. We wrote more about this in the results of the year . What will happen to the real estate market and housing prices, read here .