Rare format appreciated outside the center of Moscow
A severe shortage of available land plots, Western sanctions, and the lifting of restrictions on the height of construction in Moscow have increased the interest of developers and buyers in club houses outside the Central Administrative District. Over the past three years, the supply in club houses located outside the center of the capital has almost doubled.
Small modern mansions with expensive finishing and fashionable engineering for 30-40 apartments, located in convenient areas of the Central Administrative District, have long been in high demand among wealthy Muscovites. Most often, apartments and flats in club houses are bought by family men around 50 years old who have their own business. According to realtors, housing in a club house is not the only one for them.
In the last two years, the demand for this rare chamber format of prestigious housing has grown. Western sanctions have had an effect, limiting the opportunities for foreign investment for many successful businessmen and influential security officials. After the illegal blocking and confiscation of assets of Russians in many EU countries, the number of people wishing to buy a ticket to a foreign «paradise», in which the concept of the inviolability of private property has become a doormat, has clearly diminished. And many wealthy citizens of the Russian Federation have turned their attention to such a scarce and highly liquid asset as a club house in Moscow.
This year, the demand for low-rise chamber projects increased in February 2024, when the capital's authorities lifted the restriction on the height of buildings under construction.
Currently, about 20% of the supply on the capital's elite real estate market is club houses, according to NF Group (former Knight Frank Russia). Most of these buildings are located in the prestigious central areas of Belokamennaya (Zamoskvorechye, Khamovniki, Yakimanka, Arbat).
The main characteristics of club houses are a limited number of lots, location in an elite location, exclusivity, privacy, the presence of autonomous electrical substations, boiler rooms and backup generators, as well as a wide range of services.
Over the past three years, the supply of club format apartments in central districts has decreased by 10%, while outside the Central Administrative District, it has increased by 87%, Irina Dobrokhotova, founder of BEST-Novostroy and bnMAP.pro, told MK. According to her, developers are now increasingly looking at areas outside the Central Administrative District to build Premium and higher class projects. “They remain a scarce product for now. However, the development of transport infrastructure and active improvement of districts increases the prestige of these territories. Therefore, the growing interest in club houses outside the Third Transport Ring may become an established trend,” the analyst believes.
According to the results of the study conducted by Dobrokhotova and her colleagues, privacy of the project is important for 33% of buyers of premium housing. At the same time, the perception of the club format differs for houses in the center of Moscow and outside it. In the Central Administrative District, a house up to 10 storeys high with up to 40 lots can be considered as such. At the same time, outside the center, the requirements for this format are more democratic. It includes projects up to 15 storeys and up to 120 residences.
Today, 21 projects in the Central Administrative District meet the stated criteria for the size of houses, and the total number of apartments and flats on sale as of July 2024 was 141, the study says. Three years ago, the supply in club houses up to 10 floors in the center of Moscow was higher — 156 lots (in July 2021).
The situation is different outside the Boulevard Ring. If in 2021 there were only 3 club houses with a total supply of 47 lots outside the Central Administrative District, now 88 apartments and flats are being sold here in 6 projects located in the western, northwestern and southern districts. At the same time, 33% of the total supply in them falls on one project on Mosfilmovskaya Street, where 29 residences were sold in July 2024.
The growing interest in club houses outside the center was a combination of several factors, October Group Commercial Director Yuri Kogan explained to MK. According to him, there are fewer and fewer sites in the center, and the cost of scarce land is growing, which is why developers in these locations are trying to increase the height and density of projects. At the same time, in prestigious areas outside the Central Administrative District, the environmental situation is better, there are more parks, places for walks, and a well-developed transport infrastructure. «Today, more and more buyers are interested in small club projects both for living and for investment,» Yuri Kogan emphasized.
According to VSN Group, at the beginning of this summer, developers began several large projects to build club houses in the north and west of the city. So wealthy citizens will clearly have a wider choice for investment in the domestic real estate market.