Photo: provided by the press service of the company “Unistroy”
One of the most discussed topics now is the abolition of preferential mortgages from July 1, 2024. The State Duma is discussing how to extend the program — Vladimir Putin has given the appropriate instruction. It is expected that the benefits will be more targeted, targeted, but they should still be maintained. Iskander Yusupov, Deputy General Director of the company “Unistroy”, tells about what changes developers expect and how this may affect buyers.
— Tell me, please, how has the preferential rate affected developers, buyers and the market as a whole? What effect of preferential programs do you feel now?
— If we talk about preferential programs in general, they certainly greatly stimulated the market and supported it during difficult periods — we see this in sales.
The first preferential mortgage programs began during COVID and continued when the market and the economy as a whole were restless, and the key rate was rising. We have statistics according to which 1-1.5% of transactions are currently taking place at base rates, without any government incentive measures.
When the key rate was 7.5% and the market mortgage was 9.5%, they peacefully coexisted. And now developers have to stimulate, subsidize and, at their own expense, further reduce the rate in order to make housing more affordable.
What do developers want
— The state no longer has the amount of money to support massive benefits. If they are, they will be more targeted and targeted. What are the developers’ wishes?
— At one time, these programs were created to support the construction site. But time has changed, and the construction site has even exceeded its objectives somewhere. Now, probably, it is necessary, first of all, to stimulate demography.
Niche programs exist: Far Eastern mortgage, Arctic mortgage and IT mortgage. The first two are more tied to geography, and the IT mortgage closes the issue only for relevant specialists and works until the end of the year. But the family mortgage was given the green light with minor tightening from the second half of the year — and it will be seriously supported.
Of course, developers would not want to disable the support program. I think the main wish would be to differentiate it. Either make rates lower in regions where housing is more expensive, or increase the maximum loan amount. Somewhere, maybe four million will be enough, but somewhere, as in Kazan or St. Petersburg, you need to increase it to 7-9. This would stimulate both buyers and developers. If a developer sees a decrease in demand, he builds less, and subsequently this affects the entire volume of housing.
— Now there are their own financial instruments and programs from developers. To what extent can they equalize demand?
— With the increase in the initial payment, the tightening of mortgage conditions with state support, we see a fairly significant increase in the share of installments from developers. Previously, these programs existed in so far as, but now they are becoming more widespread. In our company, the share of installments has increased from 7% to 12% and will continue to increase.
Installments make it possible to buy an apartment without having the full cost. And the developer gets the money — even if not immediately. But there are also inconveniences: the client needs to close a large amount in a short time. The mortgage allows you to pay for 15-20 years, installments need to be repaid in a few months.
In St. Petersburg, installments are especially developed, when the final payment does not come at the time of commissioning of the house, but after several years. There are even more exotic forms: for example, our housing savings cooperative. Its essence is that the client makes an initial payment of 30 to 50%, fixes a third or half of the meters in the apartment and extinguishes the remaining within 5-7 years. How is this good? There is no interest, the client is not required to confirm his income, it is not even necessary to be a citizen of the Russian Federation. But unpaid meters are indexed according to the market, and the price may rise.
But from a business point of view, from an efficiency point of view, these programs are not very good. After commissioning, the developer collects the money (withdraws from escrow accounts – ed.), and if he flirts with such programs, he may not get anything — he still owes the bank. Therefore, such methods should be used carefully.
These programs can partially compensate for the drop in demand that may occur after the first of July, but not by 100%.
— By developing their own financial instruments, developers come to the side of banks. That is, these are parallel credit products in which you compete with the bank for the buyer.
— Based on the experience of close communication with banks, I think that we do not take bread from them — these are still small volumes. They would be happy if the preferential programs continued to exist and turned towards the client. It’s also a business for them. Somewhere it may be less profitable, somewhere more, but it is obvious that banks are interested in mortgage lending.
Secondary benefits: what’s the problem?
— Now there is a discussion about a mortgage for secondary housing. To what extent could such a solution stimulate the primary market?
— We always say that our main competitor is not other developers, but a secondary one. Because the client often has a choice between ready-made housing and under construction. However, now developers often have a portfolio of ready—made housing, including renovated ones. Here we can compete directly.
But your opinion that the secondary stimulates the primary is also true. Few people now have 7-8 million in their pocket just like that, which can be spent on an initial payment. As a rule, this is either an inheritance, or a person earns very well, or — in most cases — it is the sale of secondary real estate. And this process stimulates all preferential programs.
Why are these issues not so readily discussed? Because it is more difficult to start the same mechanisms with a secondary one. If this is a new building, that is, an understandable legal entity with a clear history, the 214th law clearly drives companies into the framework. Both banks and the Central Bank have fewer questions here. There is project financing, a contractor who is actually approved by the bank — the risks are minimal.
An apartment on the secondary market may have 15-20 previous owners — it is quite difficult to track all the nuances. I think this is the point that makes it difficult to launch support programs for the secondary.
In part, I agree that the stimulation of secondary mortgage programs can have a good effect on the primary one. Why wasn’t this done in the first place? After all, the initial purpose of a state-backed mortgage is to help the construction sector. At that time, prices were not so high, and the task was precisely to ensure that the construction site did not “fall” during the covid. And then the social aspect appeared: to support the consumer, not the builder.
A look from Kazan at the St. Petersburg building
— You are now entering the St. Petersburg market, where there is high competition and there are special features of launching development projects.Please tell me, what difficulties do you face in your regions of presence? When you analyzed the St. Petersburg market, what nuances did you highlight here?
— It is really not so easy to launch a project in St. Petersburg. High competitiveness, a serious amount of approvals is needed, a lot of points that need to be taken into account. Probably, of all the regions where we work, this one is the most difficult to exit and in terms of deadlines. When we bought the site, we expected, as usual, to launch the project in about a year and a half. It turned out that one complex was launched three years later, and the second — four years later.
We have two projects here: we launched one last year, and the second is in the final stage. This is the Lisino residential complex* in the Resort area. It is quite large-scale, there are under 400 thousand square meters of housing. The first stage of ten houses on 40 thousand m2 is currently under construction — one tenth of the project. Work there for 12 more years.
Another interesting thing: Petersburgers want everything explained to them at the stage of a telephone conversation or video presentation. Partly, I think, this is due to the size of the city: they don’t want to waste time in traffic jams.
But we noted that if the buyer does come to the office, then quite often he is ready to conclude a contract. Apparently, here the client is convinced that the company can be trusted and the product suits him.
We also noticed some distrust. In part, it can be explained by the fact that the brand “Unistroy” is still little known in St. Petersburg. Against the background of companies that have been present in the city market for many years, we are treated cautiously.
But in 2026 we will turn 30 years old — we are older than most developers in the country. We work in 6 regions, we have good ratings: both in terms of reliability of commissioning, and A-credit rating. Among public developers, companies of such reliability can be counted literally on the fingers of one hand.
— It is clear that the accompanying infrastructure provided by the region is important for the developer for the project, especially if it is a comprehensive development of the territory. How do you assess the level of its readiness in St. Petersburg?
— Our first Upoint** project, which is currently for rent, is located in a relatively busy area. From the point of view of infrastructure, in principle, it is provided with everything. We just participated in the construction of a kindergarten.
The situation in the Lisino residential complex is completely different. This is a resort area where there is no such infrastructure nearby as in the center. We’ll have to create it ourselves. There will be schools, kindergartens, a library and a number of other social facilities. They will completely cover the needs of this rather large area when it is ready.
— Another rather painful aspect is the personnel issue. Probably, there is no such branch of the economy now that would not face problems of hiring. How do you solve them?
— We sent the launch team, that is, the specialists who manage construction and sales, from Kazan. We try to do this in all regions. Their task is not only to fulfill their professional duties, but also to preach the culture and values of the company to the people whom we will accept in the region. The rest of our staff is almost all from St. Petersburg. And the competencies of the employees are quite high.
Indeed, there is a shortage of personnel. There are a number of positions in the construction industry where it is very difficult to find people. This even applies to contractors — directly those who lay bricks, pour concrete. Perhaps the fact is that the generation has changed: often young people want everything to work out quickly and immediately — and not to strain themselves too much. It is clear that the company cannot always satisfy these desires. But if the guys understand that in order to achieve something, you need to work first, they get along well and grow.
— You come to St. Petersburg on the rise of the market. However, according to various estimates, about two thirds of purchases are studios or studio apartments. It is clear that they prevail in the mass market. But even in business, business plus, elites, there is a tendency to reduce the area. In your opinion, what are the reasons why customers’ preferences change?
— Real estate prices have been rising for many years. This leads to the fact that the average area decreases: an apartment of 40 m2 is more expensive than an apartment of 35 “squares”. Now developers — and we too — have learned how to make layouts effective, so that a one-room apartment of 33 meters is no less comfortable than the same one in 38. It’s a matter of proper room layout, proportions and geometry.
But I want to note that we are not going to any total reduction – we are not building houses entirely from studios and one—room apartments. We do not have such facilities in any region, as this does not create the right environment and atmosphere.
We position ourselves as a developer who builds housing for families. Therefore, we have almost as many two-room apartments as one-room apartments, and we mortgage no more than 5% of studios.
We also do large areas: we have a three-room apartment from 60 to 95-100 meters. Such apartments are usually sold closer to the commissioning of the facility. We are quite calm about the fact that one—room and two-room apartments are being eliminated at the start, and large ones later.
I see that the client has changed, the bar of requirements is getting higher. It has become mandatory that until recently it was an advantage: closed courtyards, free from cars, expensive landscaping — plants selected by color and height, multi-level lighting, various forms of covering on playgrounds, educational Mafas. It is difficult for us to imagine simplifying the product, even if it reduces the cost. And we are more likely to sell more expensive, but not to reduce the quality.
Are they small or big? Playing with commercial spaces
— The residential complex is not only apartments, but also commercial premises. In terms of buying and renting them, what are the trends?
— In principle, we understand who will enter our projects. Buyers are 95% investors who will rent out premises to the same shops, dentists and so on. They take very little for their business. A start—up business, as a rule, is not up to buying – they start with renting.
From the point of view of sales, the most effective offer is premises of 50-100 meters, they go “with a bang”. But, as a rule, such a small area is small alcohol markets, shops, clinics, dentists, order pick—up points. If we understand that there is an interested retailer, then we make premises with the possibility of combining or lay out large ones, where chain supermarkets will come. It is clear that these are more expensive, they are harder to sell, but they must be — and there must be several of them for different networks.
Street food formats have started to develop very well now: fast food is not always available, there are also family-style restaurants.
At first, when the project is just being rented, many tenants cover the needs of those who need to make repairs. But, in my experience, when a project is populated, they gradually disappear.
There is also a great demand for leisure and educational programs: children’s centers, private kindergartens, as well as small fitness studios.
What awaits us?
— Everyone expects that at the end of the year there will be a reduction in the key rate and this will affect everyone, including developers. How do you assess the demand for apartments in the near future?
— There is a lot of talk about the abolition of mortgages with state support from July 1 and about tightening family mortgages: for families with older children, the rate will rise from 6 to 12%. As a rule, against the background of such news, demand increases sharply in a few months, and in some places there is even a stir. Most likely, in the next two months we will see that people will try to take advantage of the benefits before they are canceled.
What will happen next? The mortgage with state support will disappear, and after tightening the conditions, it amounts to about 25% in our portfolio. But sales won’t decrease that much. Some customers will find a replacement for the same family mortgage or use installments, cooperatives, and other products.
Partly from July, the market will sink. According to our company, I can estimate that transactions may become less than 15 percent. However, the rich experience of going through various crises shows that the recession lasts no more than 2-3 months. Then the market adapts, substitute programs appear.
I think the end of the year will be quite active. I am not sure that the figures will repeat the record 2023, which also started ambiguously. But it seems to me that 2024 will end comparable to the past or a little worse. We look to the future with optimism and understanding that a small drawdown for a short period will still happen.
*Developer: LLC Specialized developer “UNISTROYREGION-1”. The project declaration is posted in the Unified Information System of housing construction on the website of our.dom.rf.
**Developer: LLC Specialized developer “UNISTROYREGION-2”. The project declaration is posted in the Unified Information System of housing construction on the website of our.dom.rf.
Upoint — Uppoint
The photos were provided by the press service of the company “Unistroy”.
LLC “RealtSPb”, INN 7806550637
Photo: provided by the press service of the company “Unistroy”
Источник: www.fontanka.ru
English 
Russian 
German 
Polish