Real estate in Moscow

The main articles are:

• Real estate (Russian market)
• Moscow

Construction in Moscow

Main article: Construction in Moscow

Buying an apartment in Moscow

Main article: Buying an apartment in Moscow

Moscow City

Main article: Moscow City

Chronicle

2023

15% reduction in new office construction to 291,000 square meters

At the end of 2023, the volume of construction of new office premises in Moscow amounted to 291 thousand square meters - this is 15% less compared to 2022. Approximately 60% of the office space introduced during 2023 was implemented before the completion of construction. This was stated in a study by ILM, a consultant for the sale and lease of commercial real estate in Moscow, in early February 2024.

In 2023, the total volume of the market for high-quality office space in Moscow exceeded 22.8 million square meters. Of these, 25% belong to class A offices (5.7 million square meters), while 37% corresponds to class B + facilities (8.4 million square meters), and 38% (8.7 million square meters) to class B-. Compared to 2022, the increase in supply amounted to 1.2%, while in 2022 the total supply on the market rose by 1.5%.

ILM

Investors and end users have shown increased interest in acquiring offices since 2022, the study said. The need for quality space supports the demand for facilities under construction. 2023 showed the ability of the Russian real estate market to adapt very quickly to complex structural changes, economic instability, changing the "portrait" of the tenant and changing the investment climate.

Due to the increased business activity on the market, the total volume of net absorption, showing a change in office space occupied by tenants, reached 566 thousand square meters at the end of 2023, which is 474 thousand more compared to 2022.

If we consider the distribution of demand by areas of activity of companies interested in renting/buying an office, then at the end of 2023, trading enterprises occupy the first place with a share of about 16% of the total number of incoming applications. In second place is the IT sector, telecommunications and media companies - they account for 15%. The third place is taken by representatives of the construction industry with 10% of incoming requests.^[1]

In the warehouse real estate market of the Moscow region, a record was set for rental volume - 3.3 million square meters. m

In 2023, 3.3 million square meters were sold and leased in Moscow and the Moscow region. m of warehouse real estate, which is twice as much as a year earlier, and is a record indicator for the market. Such data analysts NF Group released at the end of January 2024.

According to the study, the average level of rental rates during 2023 increased by 55% and reached 8500 rubles per square meter per year. There are no prerequisites for reducing rates: the vacancy rate remains at the near-zero level, and the main consumers of warehouses are companies from the field of e-commerce and retail, actively generate demand for these objects, experts say.

NF Group

According to them, one of the trends in 2023 was the rapid recovery in demand for transactions in the format of construction of a customer facility (BTS). By the end of 2024, the volume of warehouse real estate commissioning is predicted to grow to the level of 2-2.2 million square meters. m (compared with 1.05 million square meters in 2023) due to the significant number of concluded transactions under the BTS scheme in the previous year.

In 2023, about 1.05 million square meters were commissioned in the Moscow region. m of high-quality warehouse real estate, which is 1.9 times lower than the final indicator of 2022. The volume of speculative projects amounted to over 610 thousand square meters. m, exceeding similar indicators of 2021-2022, when 415 and 410 thousand square meters. m of speculative areas, respectively.

NF Group

As Konstantin Fomichenko, partner, regional director of the industrial and warehouse real estate department of NF Group, noted, the warehouse real estate market demonstrated amazing stability in 2023 and continues to actively develop. The strategic trend for demand growth, which began in the pandemic (we are talking about the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic) 2020, remains relevant, emphasizing the importance of warehouse infrastructure in modern conditions, he added.^[2]

Growth in sales of luxury real estate in Moscow to 1360 transactions

In 2023, 1,360 transactions with elite real estate worth 178 billion rubles were concluded in Moscow. The indicator in money was a record for the market, but 2021 remained the leader in terms of the number of transactions (then more than 1600 lots were sold). This was reported in January 2024 in the consulting company NF Group.

According to the study, the weighted average cost of a "square" of housing in elite new buildings in Moscow also became a record - it reached 1.618 million rubles. Over the year, the indicator grew by 6%. In 2023, the total number of apartments and apartments sold on the Moscow elite real estate market increased by 58% compared to 2022.

Pexels

Diverse projects enter the market, which allows you to close most of the needs of buyers of elite housing, says Andrei Solovyov, partner, regional director of the city real estate department at NF Group. According to the expert, in the short and medium term, one should not expect a large volume of supply.

On the one hand, developers are developing new sites and continue to work on existing projects, on the other hand, a high level of rates, an increase in the cost of project financing and an increase in the cost of construction "can put pressure on developers and slow down the launch of new projects on the market," Andrei Solovyov. Extensive discount programs and special purchase conditions from developers remained, and in the secondary market there was a decrease in quality supply, which made it possible to completely restore the previous level of purchasing activity in the primary market.

Such dynamics allow us to say that market participants are in new realities, accept a stable increase in the value of elite real estate and are even interested in it, the study notes.[3]

Record number of transactions for the sale of secondary housing - 174,952 (+ 32 %)

To Moscow In 2023, a record 174,952 secondary housing transactions were concluded, which is 32% more than a year earlier. Federal Registration Service This was reported in the press service of the Moscow department on January 17, 2024.

In 2022, 132.6 thousand home purchase and sale agreements were recorded in the secondary market of Moscow. The previous record took place in 2021: during that period, the Rosreestr Office in Moscow registered 170,939 transfers of rights on the basis of contracts for the sale and purchase (change) of housing.

As noted in Rosreestr, the trend towards a decrease in the number of such transactions in Moscow, which began in November 2023, remained until the end of the year. And in the IV quarter of 2023, the number of contracts decreased by 4.2% compared to the III quarter of the same year. So, in December 2023, the number of home purchase and sale agreements decreased by 3.4% compared to November 2023, to almost 14.9 thousand. However, compared to December 2022, the number of transactions increased by 5.9%.

Nevertheless, the fluctuations observed during the year did not prevent the final results from becoming a record for all the years of statistics - almost 175 thousand transactions per year. This is 1.3 times more than 12 months of 2022 and more than 4 thousand exceeds the previous record of 2021, - said Igor Maidanov, head of the Rosreestr Office in Moscow.

Realtors noted a reduction in supply in the secondary market of Moscow. According to Miel, in December 2023, the supply of secondary housing in the capital decreased by 8% by November. "Buyers with mortgages approved at old rates were in a hurry to exercise the right to buy housing by the end of the year," explained Ekaterina Berezhnova, chief analyst at Miel Group.

According to the SRG consulting company, for December 2023 and incomplete January 2024, secondary housing supply decreased by about 11%.^[4]

The volume of free space in Moscow shopping centers for the year decreased by 30%

By the end of 2023, 10% of retail premises were vacant in Moscow, by 4.9 percentage points (pp), or 30%, less than a year earlier. This is evidenced by the data of the consulting company Nikoliers, published on January 11, 2024.

According to the study, the volume of commissioning of retail space in Moscow in 2023 turned out to be the minimum over the past 20 years - a total of 50.7 thousand square meters. m of retail space against 281.4 thousand square meters. m in 2021. The average area of ​ ​ retail facilities introduced in 2023 amounted to 12.7 thousand square meters. m, which is 19.5% more than a year ago.

According to experts, in 2023, demand in the retail real estate market stabilized. Despite the high vacancy at the beginning of the year, when the indicator reached 15.6%, the vacated sites were able to fill with new tenants. Gradually, new tenants of the square are being found, which were previously occupied by the stores of the Swedish IKEA and the French Decathlon. The Europolis Rostokino shopping mall now houses the Lazurit homeware store on most of the premises where IKEA was formerly located.

By the end of 2023, Decathlon resumed its work, but under the new sign - Desport. Nevertheless, some sites have already gone to other tenants. For example, in the shopping center "Rainbow Park" in the east of Moscow, instead of Decathlon, a sporting goods store "Sportmaster" was opened. Also on the site of Adidas was the opening of the first ASP store with Adidas and Reebok products in Outlet Village "Belaya Dacha," Nikoliers notes.

Nikoliers partner Anna Nikandrova among the positive factors names the continuing plans for the active development of fashion retailers. The expert believes that due to the minimum commissioning of shopping centers in Russia in the past few years, there has even been a shortage of high-quality space for expansion.^[5]

Prices for new buildings in Moscow are near historical highs

By the end of June 2023, prices for new buildings in Moscow are near historical highs, which were reached in July 2022, but the rate of price growth has significantly decreased.

About 338 thousand rubles per 1 square meter - this is the cost of primary real estate in the city of Moscow.

2022

Decrease in the average area of new apartments to 55 meters and increase in the height of ceilings to 3 m

For 11 years, the average area of ​ ​ new apartments in Moscow has decreased from 82 to 55 square meters.

But the average height of the ceilings, according to data from Cian.ru, increased to 3 meters.

Decrease in the number of transactions with secondary housing by 22% to 132 thousand

The secondary housing market in Moscow at the end of the year sank 22.4% compared to 2021. In 2022, the capital's Rosreestr registered 132.63 thousand transactions in this segment. This is also less than in 2020 - by almost 11%.

In December 2022 alone, 14.03 thousand transactions on the secondary market were recorded, which is 31.1% less than in 2021.

Decrease in the number of transactions for the purchase of elite real estate in new buildings in Moscow by 44% to 900 transactions

As of the beginning of December 2022, the number of transactions for the purchase of real estate in elite new buildings in Moscow fell by 44% year-on-year, to 900 transactions. This is the lowest figure in the last five years, analysts at NF Group calculated.

The offer of new buildings in Moscow in November reached a record of 44.5 thousand apartments

The offer of new buildings in Moscow in November reached a record of 44.5 thousand apartments, the record of five years ago was broken.

2019: Growth in sales of luxury housing in Moscow to 102 billion rubles

In 2019, Moscow developers of elite housing increased sales by 32% to 102 billion rubles, according to a report by the consulting company Knight Frank.

2013

Jones Lang LaSalle predicted that in 2013 the total investment in Moscow real estate will be about $7.5 billion. Experts noted that the decrease in the indicator is not associated with a decrease in investment interest, but with a limited supply of liquid assets. In the first quarter of 2013, the volume of real estate transactions in Russia amounted to $2.1 billion, 96 percent of which was in the capital.

2012: Moscow in the top 10 of the world for real estate investments

Consultants emphasize that the Russian market has significant growth potential. Thus, investments in real estate in Russia account for 0.4 percent of the country's GDP, while in the UK - 2.1 percent. Russia's record investment at $7-8 billion is significantly inferior to that of other European countries (in the UK in 2012, deals for $52 billion were closed, in Germany - by $31 billion, in France - by $21 billion).

In the fourth quarter of 2012, the volume of investments in the market real estate Moscow (in finished facilities) amounted to about $3 billion, which allowed the Russian capital to enter the top ten world leaders in this indicator for the first time. This is stated in a study by Jones Lang LaSalle.

According to experts, Moscow shared 8-9 places in the rating with Washington. In the first position was New York, where investors invested $9.9 billion in the quarter.

• The second line with an indicator of $8.8 billion was taken by London,
• the third is Paris ($5.6 billion).
• The leaders also included Seoul ($4.7 billion),
• Seattle ($4.4 billion),
• Hong Kong and Tokyo ($3.2 billion each).
• Closed the top 10 Los Angeles ($2.8 billion^[6].

Earlier, the best post-crisis result for Moscow was line 11 in the third quarter of 2011, when the volume of investments reached $2 billion. The worst is considered the first quarter of 2010 (43rd place, 230 million dollars). At the end of 2012, Moscow took 13th place with an investment of $8.7 billion.

According to analysts, Moscow accounts for over 90 percent of real estate investments in Russia.

Notes