Photo: Oleg Yelkov/TASS
Demand in the rental housing market has sharply gone into the budget and super—budget segment – the growth in the welfare of citizens of the Russian Federation, which is trumpeted by the official, forces people to move into simpler apartments. There are already not enough of them, on the contrary, expensive living space is idle, and there landlords are forced to follow the lead of potential customers. But not at all — few people want to deal with visitors nowadays.
At least 25% of Russian families (that is, about 16-17 million — if you look at the All-Russian Population Census of 2021) are forced to rent housing, statistics are unofficial, but this is how realtors assess the market. The “average temperature in the hospital” — how much money is spent on this per month, again across the country — is unknown. In the capital, until recently it was about 30-50 thousand rubles, in cities with millions from 20 thousand rubles to the same 40-50 thousand.
But this statistic is rather outdated — it is for the first half of this year, before the beginning of summer, when a lot of apartments are being released and the market is undergoing some kind of local “reassessment of values.” Or it doesn’t. There are changes this year.
Each of us has a lot of friends who rent out living space, both apartments and houses. Therefore, it is not difficult to conduct a blitz survey and compare it with what the “experts” say. So, what’s going on here?
“The apartment on Leninsky Prospekt has been empty since the beginning of spring — people can’t afford this “three-piece” now. Here on the Warsaw highway “odnushka” is paid for right up to the end of the year, back in January, the lease will be extended. I’m not raising the price, but I’m not lowering it either, we’re both happy with each other — and the living space is in good hands, and the income is normal,” says Konstantin, a Muscovite.
“The Treshka in Lublin, with the tenants, did not change the price, but I have an inexpensive apartment — the area is small, and there was no repair. Everything works fine there and is very decent, but the interior and furnishings are in the style of “Back to USSR”. People have been renting for several years, we are happy with each other,” says Irina, the owner of the apartment.
“Two-room apartment in Pleasant, fresh cosmetic repairs, the price was also not changed. But instead of one family of students, there are now two living there, I don’t mind — somehow it doesn’t matter. The main thing is that Russians are decent,” said Sergei, a retired Interior Ministry officer.
The trend is generally understandable, you don’t even have to comment. And what’s going on outside the city?
“Basically, offers of up to 30 thousand per month are in demand, these are, as it is easy to guess, very modest houses or parts (halves) of them. There is an acute shortage of such facilities, whereas cottages that cost 100 thousand rubles a month or so are empty, there are just a lot of them,” says private realtor Tatyana Ivanova.
And it really is. There are two cottages on the next street that were rented out until last year, they have been empty since the beginning of winter. The houses are very beautiful, the territories too, but, alas, there are fewer and fewer tenants with such money now.
“The exposition of cheap lots on the Moscow rental market has decreased by almost a third over the year. The most economical apartments, costing no more than 25 thousand rubles per month, account for 2.3% of the exposition against 4.3% at the beginning of the year. Objects with rental rates from 26 thousand rubles to 45 thousand rubles occupy 42.4% (in January 37.4%).
The interest of employers in the mass segment is focused exclusively on the cheapest offers. They have been actively washed out of the market all spring, and now there is an obvious shortage: the demand for such lots is twice as high as their number. Comfort-class apartments, on the contrary, are now very little interested in mass segment customers — the supply is three times higher than the demand. Therefore, tenants are counting on a discount, and a significant one,” explains Oksana Polyakova, Deputy Director of the Incom—Real Estate apartment rental department.
Very revealing figures — even 30-40 thousand rubles for housing per month are no longer affordable for people. According to unofficial statistics, again, about 70% of tenants who could afford to pay 40-50 thousand per month for rent for a year and a half are now forced to “cut the sturgeon” twice. As spending on food, fuel, housing and communal services, and everything else is growing. Especially for all imported goods, and, as you know, there are almost no domestic ones…
Therefore, the statistics given at the very beginning should be significantly adjusted. In the capital — up to 20-40 thousand rubles, in provincial large cities — up to 15-30 thousand rubles. That’s how much people are still able to pay today, although their number is falling.
“Rental rates for apartments in large cities have dropped by 10-15% due to a decrease in demand and an increase in supply. For example, for one-room apartments in Prices fell by 14-15% in St. Petersburg, by 13% in Moscow, by 9.1% in Krasnoyarsk, and by 8.6% in Samara,” says Olga Pavlinova, Director of the Residential and Commercial Real estate Rental Department at the federal company Etagi.
The reasons for the lack of money of Russian citizens are obvious. The decline in business activity is observed both in the manufacturing industry and in the service sector, and purely negative processes are taking place in the Russian economy. If you look at what Rosstat draws, then everything is growing in our country, and unemployment — already low — generally tends to zero. But for some reason, the number of jobs is decreasing, or rather, employees are being cut. Not only in offices, but also in factories. And people go home to live in their own houses and apartments.
According to the latest data, “CYANOGEN.Analysts”, if you do not take Moscow and St. Petersburg, rent of a one-room apartment in the regional market (16 million cities, Moscow and Leningrad regions) in August averaged 23,720 rubles. In smaller cities, the price tag is somewhere 30-50% more modest.
The announced figures should also be treated with a fair amount of distrust, since it is beneficial for realtors to rent an object more expensive — their earnings depend on it. But even if they add something to their statistics, it’s not much – 15-20%. In general, there is a tendency to lower rental prices.
Moreover, the consequences of the new refinancing rate of the Central Bank and the dollar exchange rate at the level of 100 rubles have not yet fully worked. Actually, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation itself has already noted a noticeable deterioration in the current state of business activity in the main sectors of the economy. That is, the problems are getting worse.
But the main ones are still ahead, in September. And not only economic ones. The increase in the supply of rental apartments and houses is also due to the fact that they are no longer rented to visitors. “I will rent an apartment (house) only to Slavs” is a very popular clarification in the ad nowadays. The wording may be different, for example, “to Europeans”, “to Russians”, etc., but the essence does not change from this. Due to the growth of “runaway” crime, lease agreements are terminated and more and more new apartments are thrown on the market. Which, of course, also affects prices.
The most inexpensive objects are immediately surrendered again, however, in 90% of cases, after the residence of “non-Russians” or “gangstarbiters”, repairs have to be made, at least cosmetic. Which is very expensive nowadays — prices for building materials continue to rise. By the way, there is another factor, purely economic. And if this goes on, at least a million apartments may splash out on the market in the near future. The tenants are aware, so they are not greedy.
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