Photo: iStockphoto.com / Kirill Sirotiuk
Having started in St. Petersburg in 2007, large-scale residential development projects have not only not gone into the shadows today, but have also continued to develop: they account for 75% of demand. Spot construction remains mainly in the premium segment, as such construction is becoming more expensive for developers.
Complexes with an area of 100 thousand square meters or more are considered large for the St. Petersburg agglomeration. According to St. Petersburg Real Estate (Setl Group), apartments in 115 such projects are currently on sale in the St. Petersburg agglomeration — in the Northern Capital and its suburbs. Of these, there are 65 such complexes in St. Petersburg, and 50 in the Leningrad region. In 2023, 2.76 million square meters of housing were sold in them. Projects with a scale of less than 100 thousand square meters occupy only a quarter of the sales volume today.
From a clean slate
“If we are talking about new neighborhoods that are being built “in the open field”, then only projects of integrated development of territories can be implemented there,” he saysNatalia Kukushkina, Head of the Product and Analytics Department of the CDU Group. “This is the only possible format in such areas, since housing, social infrastructure, and roads should be provided in the new location.”
Olga Trosheva, Director of the St. Petersburg Real Estate Consulting Center (Setl Group), notes that St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region have historically become locations where large-scale projects began to develop after 2007. Thus, according to the ERZ portal, residential complexes in the North-Western region — “Clear Sky” and “Sunny City” from Setl Group – took the second and third places in Russia in terms of scale of development. Currently, 39 integrated development projects are on sale in the Northern Capital and suburbs, where the scale of development is more than 300 thousand square meters. Most of them are located on the outskirts of St. Petersburg and only 13 are in the suburban area of the Leningrad region.
The appearance of such projects at one time was due to many factors. Firstly, the lack of gaps in the city: with the prohibition of the so-called “sealing” development, the possibilities of construction in inhabited neighborhoods have practically come to naught. Secondly, there were a large number of agricultural lands in the outskirts of St. Petersburg, which were no longer used for their intended purpose and gradually ended up in the hands of the largest landlords. At the same time, the transactions took place on mutually beneficial terms: the cost of land turned out to be much less than inside the inhabited areas. Thirdly, comprehensive development available to large companies allows you to save on scale. That is, apartments in such projects are sold, at least at the initial stages, cheaper than in small complexes.
The more, the cheaper
“The cost of housing in point objects is initially higher than in houses as part of a complex development, since they are located in already established areas,” explains Yulia Ruzhitskaya, general Director of the Glavstroy real estate agency. — In addition, there is often a shortage of new housing in the immediate environment, due to which developers increase the price of their product. If we consider an area where a “point” and a quarterly development are being implemented in the neighborhood, the difference in the cost of housing at the initial stage can reach 20-30%. As the project is implemented and the new residential quarter is saturated with infrastructure, the price is gradually leveling off.”
Jan Feldman, Marketing Director of Lenstroytrest Group,He notes that there are practically no places left for new large-scale construction projects inside the ring Road, with the exception of redevelopment of former industrial areas. This explains the departure of many developers into expensive segments — small projects for a maximum of 100-200 apartments. In the suburbs, developers are showing great activity and scope. The northern suburbs mostly continue to be developed in the format of high-density multi-storey buildings. In the southern directions, on the contrary, the development of projects is in low-rise and medium-rise formats. In the eastern direction, for example, in Vsevolozhsk or Yanino, where the company has been operating for a long time, the building is mainly medium-rise, but its density is noticeably less than in the north.
According to the expert, “point” development is more typical for St. Petersburg or remote settlements (where the appearance of new objects is very rare, for example, Krasnoe Selo, Tosno, Vyborg, etc.). Also, individual point projects appear in actively built—up locations, which are characterized by multi-storey dense buildings, for example, Murino.
In the immediate vicinity of St. Petersburg, most locations are developing exclusively in the format of integrated development of territories — these are Yanino, Novoselye, Lagolovo, Novosaratovka and others. The greatest activity of developers is associated with the Pushkinsky, Vsevolozhsky and Lomonosov districts — there are still opportunities for the implementation of large-scale residential development projects.
“Integrated development projects have been developing more actively in the Leningrad region in recent years,” agrees Natalia Kukushkina. — This is facilitated, among other things, by the extensive land bank of the region. Only large developers with good project financing and proven product schemes can afford to work with such projects. Small developers prefer to take on single objects.”
According to the expert, there are developers on the market who have the necessary competencies to work with both formats. However, there are also more highly specialized developers. Some of them work only with small projects in understandable locations. Other companies, primarily large developers at the federal level, operate only large projects with an area of several hectares.
Everyone has their own admirer
The point development in a good location has an obvious advantage — well-developed transport, social, shopping, entertainment and other infrastructure. In a block-by-block development, all this has to be created from scratch. Previously, there were often situations when roads and social infrastructure in large projects obviously lagged behind the construction speed of housing. And the pioneers — those who lived in the first queues — had to go to clinics, take children to kindergartens and schools, jostle in queues for transport. Now the situation is getting better thanks to the work of the Urban Planning Commission, which does not allow houses to be built without infrastructure, and the fact that developers realized that such a product is more difficult to sell.
In general, the comfort of living in large projects is growing — the number of infrastructure facilities in projects is increasing, developers are trying to manage the process. For example, the Setl Group has developed a new standard for infrastructure construction — SETL 15’. Based on the wishes of customers, we have compiled a list of necessary infrastructure facilities within walking distance. They were divided into three categories: “consumer goods”, “education and health”, “self-development and communication”. The first one is food and beverage stores, order pick—up points, cosmetics and household chemicals stores, pet supplies. The second is schools, kindergartens, medical centers and pharmacies. The third is neighborhood and children’s centers, gyms and fitness studios, cafes and restaurants, beauty salons. All this should be within a 15-minute accessibility so that people can live comfortably and conveniently on their own territory.
“The choice of a residential complex depends on the individual preferences and financial capabilities of buyers,” says Yulia Ruzhitskaya. — Both point-based construction and the implementation of complex projects have their own characteristics and difficulties. For example, when sealing buildings, an acute problem for new settlers and residents of neighboring houses is the issue of having a sufficient number of free parking spaces. The peculiarity of the integrated development of territories is the phased construction of a residential neighborhood with new roads, engineering networks, schools, kindergartens, polyclinics, as well as public and reactionary zones. Also, complex projects are distinguished by a homogeneous composition of residents, which is difficult to achieve when building a house in a formed area of the city. Traditionally, young families with children become newcomers to such projects.”
According to Natalia Kukushkina, depending on the goals and life circumstances, buyers choose different objects. Individual taste also differs. For example, someone may not like a new house surrounded by “tired” five-story buildings. But a block of new houses surrounded by a park with its own walking area will appeal to more people. A lot depends on the specific project and its characteristics, on the thoughtfulness and classiness of the solutions used.
If we summarize the opinion of experts, then large projects will develop in St. Petersburg, now more thoughtful than before, but developers do not refuse point-by-point development: apartments in such projects are obviously more expensive. “In conditions of uncertainty with demand, developers will focus more on continuing projects that have already been launched,” Jan Feldman is sure. — New residential complexes, of course, will continue to enter the market, but developers are now careful. In St. Petersburg, premieres are likely to be represented by small—sized new buildings in expensive classes, less often in the comfort+ class. In the suburbs, new integrated development projects of the company are also being put on sale in small queues, mainly 1-2 houses in each.”
Margarita Yaremenko, especially for
Photo: iStockphoto.com / Kirill Sirotiuk
Источник: www.fontanka.ru
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