«Countryside communities lack openness»
The Russian market for individual housing construction has been on the rise for the last two years. However, it presents a rather mixed picture. While some regions use original concepts and develop advanced methods to support developers of cottage villages, other regions are stagnating. Interestingly, the suburban market of the Moscow Region is not among the leaders. And there are good reasons for this. The Chelyabinsk and Vladimir Regions are among the leaders in terms of project quality. What measures can increase the attractiveness of individual housing construction in the Russian Federation were discussed at the Open Village exhibition.
As Vladislav Kopitsa, founder of the specialized exhibition, told MK, Moscow and the Moscow Region lag far behind other regions in terms of the quality of low-rise settlements. And not only because of the very expensive land, which, of course, affects the cost of construction. Developers working in the Moscow Region and New Moscow today do not have an urgent need to think through a project — due to the huge demand, they will sell all the lots anyway. That is why there are so many uninteresting and similar projects here. Many regions look more powerful and interesting in terms of the number of quality offers. As an example of creating a comfortable living environment, he named the satellite city of L-Town, which is being built near Chelyabinsk, and Dobrograd in the Vladimir Region.
According to Kopitsa, the gap between Moscow and the Moscow region and the leaders will only increase over time. «Countryside communities in these local markets lack openness. The preferences of buyers of private homes have changed significantly in recent years; they need a fence-free environment and a large number of common points of attraction,» the expert noted.
Chairman of the RF CCI Committee on Entrepreneurship in Construction Efim Basin noted an unprecedented growth in the volume of individual housing construction in the Russian Federation. If in 2022 and 2023 the share of individual housing construction was about 50% of the total volume of housing commissioned in the country, then this year, according to preliminary forecasts, it may exceed 70%. Against the background of the extension of family mortgages, the development of individual housing construction will be a catalyst for leveling the demographic situation in Russia. Therefore, balanced regulation is required. However, according to the expert, a number of old problems need to be urgently resolved. For example, gaps in the regulatory and legislative framework for the management of common property in suburban villages create many difficulties already at the stage of project operation.
A member of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Utilities, Aleksandr Yakubovsky, agreed with this point of view: “The inadequacy of the current legislative regulation in terms of managing the common property of suburban settlements often leads to emergency situations with heating and water supply systems in Moscow Region settlements.” In his opinion, management should be transferred to the hands of resource supplying organizations, which should take responsibility in this matter.
According to Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services Nikita Stasishin, the government has developed a package of measures designed to ensure accessibility and transparency in the acquisition of private households. Among them are the extension of family mortgages to individual housing construction at a rate of 6%, the adoption of a bill on escrow accounts for individual housing construction, which will come into force in March 2025, as well as a pilot program to subsidize loans to contractors at a rate of up to 1% per annum.
Let us recall that the family mortgage with a 6% rate has been extended until 2030. Preferential loans under this program can be issued to families where: the first child or subsequent children were born from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2023; there are two or more minor children; a disabled child is being raised; an adopted child is being raised. The maximum loan amount in Moscow, the Moscow Region, St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region under this program is 12 million rubles, in other regions — 6 million rubles. The down payment must be at least 15% of the cost of housing.
As the chief architect of the Moscow region Alexandra Kuzmina noted, in 12 years the standards in the region have changed 15 times. The requirements for developers are constantly increasing. However, the authorities are hampered by spontaneous construction. According to her, today about 90% of land in the Moscow region suitable for construction is in private hands.
The Moscow Region administration places great hopes on cluster construction. This model for developing territories of about 100 hectares, connected by a single master plan and transport framework, was developed in 2021. “Such planning projects will be a salvation for suburban villages. We are currently implementing 7 clusters with a total area of over 4 thousand hectares. They provide for different housing formats: individual housing construction, block development, low-rise residential complexes. At the same time, all of them are implemented in a single architectural concept with a single style,” said the chief architect of the Moscow Region.
Nikita Shuvalov, CEO of Samolet. Dom, noted the imbalance between supply and demand in the Moscow region individual housing construction market — up to 90% of demand is in the economy and comfort segment (home ownership costing up to 16 million rubles), although 83% of supply corresponds to the business, premium and elite classes. According to his estimates, the transition to a cluster scheme will help to whiten the market.
Vladislav Kopitsa proposed creating a national database of prefabricated houses. This will quickly provide housing to citizens affected by natural disasters, and can also be of assistance in the construction of large industrial facilities in new regions of the Russian Federation. Modern construction technologies make it possible to assemble such prefabricated houses in literally a few days.
As the expert told MK, today the most popular technology in the Russian Federation for the construction of private houses is aerated concrete (25% of the total volume). Glued laminated timber, panel-frame construction and ceramic blocks are also popular. «Over the last four years, the cost of building a house has increased by an average of 50% in the Russian Federation. But by the end of this year, we should not expect strong price fluctuations. The fact is that since the beginning of the year, prices for building materials have already jumped significantly,» the expert concluded.