Buyers lack hacienda
An imbalance is growing in the suburban housing market near Moscow. Demand for high-quality lots at a decent price amid the pandemic and the closure of EU borders has grown. But with the proposal — trouble. It is unprofitable to build a house on your own because of the rising cost of building materials and the shortage of qualified masons and roofers, and there is nothing special to buy. For sale are mostly obsolete houses — «wrecked», or cottages in elite villages. The «golden mean» is completely absent. Where will the prices for the «country house» go in the second half of the year, MK found out.
In early summer, suburban housing in the Moscow region went up again. “Today, dachas are bought for recreation, as an alternative to foreign trips that have become less accessible. And all-season country houses — as an alternative to incredibly expensive city apartments. Therefore, since last summer, houses as a whole have risen in price by 15%, ”Pavel Lutsenko, general director of the World of Apartments portal, told MK.
Demand was also seriously stimulated by fears of a pandemic, when a self-isolation regime was introduced, mortgage programs for the construction of individual housing construction, and fatigue from SVO. It's no secret that people are tired of the «TV» with disturbing news and dream of «just sitting» on their land in silence, in nature. In addition, the popularity of country life has grown due to the development of transport infrastructure (the metro has gone beyond the borders of the Moscow Ring Road, the MCD is being developed). In addition, many citizens got the opportunity to work remotely.
“There is a shortage of new projects in any suburban segment. There are a lot of obsolete houses that were built in the early 2000s, which no longer meet the current needs of the buyer, ”said Tatyana Ananyeva, head of the suburban real estate department at MIEL Suschevsky.
Against the backdrop of a shortage of supply, buyers began to make purchase decisions faster. According to analysts, people used to consider various options for a long time, sometimes several seasons. Today, the process has accelerated, the time from searching for an object to buying has decreased.
Now, according to Tatiana Maksimova, Head of the Department of Country Real Estate at INCOM-Nedvizhimost, buyers are interested in two types of suburban real estate. Firstly, plots without a contract as a reliable source of saving money. Moreover, the cost of maintaining a minimum, only a property tax once a year. Secondly, ready-made houses in a modern style: you can buy them by attracting mortgage lending (now attractive rates for young people, for IT specialists, you can use maternity capital), and immediately enjoy country life.
There is still a big demand for cheap summer cottages with houses to be demolished. Buyers are interested in medium-sized, 80-150 square meters. m, houses with small, 6-10 acres, plots, says Lutsenko. In his opinion, large buildings with huge plots of land attract consumers less and less, as they are more expensive, require more maintenance and utility costs. There is a clear trend towards rationality and functionality of purchases.
As before, houses with already connected electricity, gas and water supply are in demand. “Customers prioritize comfort. People first of all evaluate the time on the road to the future dacha. It is desirable that social infrastructure be developed in the cottage settlement: playgrounds, small shops, pharmacies,” said Yulia Dymova, director of the Est-a-Tet secondary real estate sales office. According to her, at the beginning of summer, the prices of old-style dachas, on plots of 6-12 acres, suitable for living at different times of the year, rose in price. The most popular option among buyers is still a two-story house in a cottage village with an area of 135 sq. m with two bedrooms and a kitchen-living room. The cost of such options is on average 7–10 million rubles.
Most buyers prefer stone houses (brick, foam concrete, aerated concrete), among wooden ones, glued beams are unrivaled, Maksimova said. According to the Association of Wooden Housing Construction, houses made of glued beams are sold at the level of 60-65 thousand rubles. for 1 sq. m, and frame houses — 40-45 thousand rubles. for 1 sq. m. Despite the increase in lumber prices in early June, during the first month of summer, the cost of houses made of wood decreased slightly, while those made of brick, on the contrary, increased.
The most expensive destinations are Rublyovka, Novaya Riga, Kievka. So, on Rublyovka, the cheapest house is 146 sq. m without finishing, on 2 acres of land, is sold for 9.6 million. At the same time, New Riga continues to lose its high status due to traffic jams. For example, it used to take 30 minutes to get from the elite village of Cambridge to Moscow, but today it sometimes takes 2 hours to get there.
The cheapest houses are sold in the east of the region (Novoryazanskoye, Yegoryevskoye, Nosovikhinsky highway). So, in the Yegoryevsk direction, for a two-story 180-meter house without finishing with 13 acres, they ask for 4.4 million rubles.
“Any rating today cannot be called objective,” says Victoria Grigoryeva, general director of BEST-Novostroy. According to her, the civilized suburban real estate market in the suburbs is just beginning to take shape. So far, only the expensive and the cheapest segments are represented on it. There is no middle ground to create a mass demand segment.
You can count on discounts if you buy illiquid assets, from which the owner cannot get rid of for years. Or a house with serious flaws — dilapidated or with legal problems. “For habitable houses, owners give discounts of no more than 5%. However, the secondary market is very diverse, and all sellers are different people, each with their own individual life situation, so anything can happen, ”Lutsenko said.
Of course, potential buyers of suburban housing are interested in the question — where to go this summer will the prices go? Analysts are divided on this score. According to Tatyana Ananyeva, there is no need to wait for a systemic reduction in prices for suburban market objects. But she does not see any prerequisites for rapid growth.
According to the general director of BEST-Novostroy, Viktoria Grigorieva, in the short term, leading Moscow developers will bring new high-quality suburban projects to the market. With the formation of this cluster, prices will certainly go up. Moreover, the main unsatisfied demand in this segment is precisely among Moscow real estate buyers who are looking for an alternative to high-rise urban development.
According to Pavel Lutsenko's forecast, prices for medium-sized country houses suitable for living in the Moscow region will grow by an average of 10% per year.