Saint-Petersburg housing market

According to the latest data for January-June 2013, the building complex of St. Petersburg introduced 947.5 thousand square meters of housing, which is 75% more than the same period last year with its 541.4 thousand square meters.

For this indicator, St. Petersburg takes a 7th place among all the subjects of the Russian Federation. More housing was built only in Moscow region - 2 266.1 thousand square meters, in Krasnodar Territory – 1 697 square meters, in the Republic of Tatarstan – 1 199.8 thousand square meters, in Moscow - 1 187.1 thousand square meters, in Tyumen region - 1 011.5 thousand square meters, in the Republic of Bashkortostan - 1 009.7 thousand square meters.

The increase in housing construction can be explained by the renewal of projects stalled during the recent economic crisis, the relative stability of the financial markets, and last but not least by the high demand for housing, which is fuelled by non-resident buyers, regarding St. Petersburg as an attractive place to live and work.

In January-June the average construction cost of total area was fixed at 47.3 thousand for 1 square meter, which is higher than in neighboring Leningrad region with its 41.8 thousand rubles and in more "rich" Moscow with 33.2 million rubles. According to this indicator St. Petersburg takes 10th place among all regions of the country. The average construction cost is higher only in remote northern regions - Chukotka, Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District, the Magadan region, etc.

High construction cost could be explained with the lack of free land resources within the city.
As for the acquisition average market price for 1 square meter, the situation is as follows: on primary housing market the price was 8 8017.7 rubles in July, having increased by 3.91% in January. The situation on secondary housing market is the following: 95 219.9 rubles with increase of 0.06%.

Secondary housing market prices have not reached the level of September 2008 yet, when they were to 109 thousand rubles per square meter. Primary market is very close to overcoming the historical peak in autumn 2008 with 91.6 thousand rubles per square meter.

Thus, there is a gradual adjustment of prices on the primary and secondary housing markets. In consumer qualities new housing surpasses objectively the old housing stock with panel large-scale houses, but in some cases it is inferior in transport accessibility.