Штиль и сплин

The country real estate market, like the urban one, experienced an unusual calm in September. The demand in most villages is mostly postponed. And all because, experts believe, a paradoxical situation has arisen: there is an excess of supply, but the buyer cannot find what he wants. Autumn in the country real estate market is considered a hot time when buyers who have returned from vacations start actively considering buying a house or plot. However, this September, all signs indicate another stagnation: there is a noticeable calm in the construction villages, and the dynamics of sales in completed and even populated properties have decreased compared to last year. "The current times are not the easiest for developers: buyers are not in a hurry to buy housing, and the demand is mainly postponed," notes Anastasia Fetisova, Marketing Director of the Moscow office of "Rossa Rakenne SPb" (Honka). Interestingly, the number of inquiries and views remains at a high level, according to Maria Belova, Deputy Head of the Marketing Department at Gazprombank-Invest. However, actual purchases are almost not made. "The number of buyers willing to make a one-time payment for real estate has decreased, and customers are increasingly interested in mortgage loans or installment payments," she notes. The worst situation is for developers whose projects were started on credit. After all, banks do not like to hear about the crisis and a decrease in solvent demand. In order to stir up buyer interest and find additional money to service the loans, developers lower prices or offer significant discounts during personal negotiations. Maria Belova provides an example: "Cottages that were previously offered for 60 million rubles can now be purchased for 45 million rubles - however, this discount mainly applies to settlements that have been on the market for a long time." There are also houses for eight million. The numbers for September sales in the segment of houses priced from 15 million rubles are pleasing, compared to August 2016, says Sergey Kolosnitsyn, Director of the Country Real Estate Department at Penny Lane Realty. Over this period, the growth in the number of sales in the segment was 19%. However, compared to the indicators at the beginning of autumn last year, he notes a decrease of 34%. But despite the clearly unsuccessful September in terms of sales, head of the Welhome Country Real Estate Department, Georgy Belsky, says that a total of 107 deals were concluded in the elite price segment in the third quarter of 2016, which is 1.7 times more than in the second quarter and twice as much as in the same period last year. "Just the majority of transactions, namely 86%, occurred in July and August," he explains. Oleg Mikhaylik, Deputy Director of City and Country Real Estate at Knight Frank, has slightly different figures for the quarter in the segment: 89 deals for the third quarter and an increase of only 16% compared to the second. The expert notes that the main volume of demand from July to September fell on land plots: the share of this segment in the overall structure of demand was 52%. However, the figures for the average selling price of cottages are optimistic: compared to the second quarter, the figure increased by 10% in dollars and 8% in rubles, reaching $1.4 million (91 million rubles). And compared to the beginning of the year, this increase was even more significant: 48% in dollars and 29% in rubles. However, the main request of affluent buyers, according to Alsu Khamidullina, head of the country real estate department at Contact Real Estate, is focused in the range of 30 million to 50 million rubles for an unfinished house. Finished premium houses are valued higher - from 80 million to 100 million rubles. "From late summer to early autumn, most deals were made in such price ranges," she says, adding that the majority of purchases were made for cottages in settlements on the Novorizhskoye Highway. Similar data is provided by Oleg Mikhaylik: "The average budget request has not changed since last fall and amounts to $1 million." Knight Frank also notes the appearance of rare clients with large budgets starting from $8 million - they consider large modern houses ready for occupancy or with a short period of previous ownership. Dollars don't just lie on the road. One of the reasons for the autumn decline in buyers, experts once again see in the incorrect behavior of currency exchange rates. This time, the market is slowing down due to the decrease in the dollar from the peak of 77.93 rubles in January to 63.15 by the end of September. "Buyers are waiting," says Maria Belova. The transition to ruble-based pricing was good until the ruble began to

It should be said that shares are popular almost among everyone who builds outside the city, both small and starting developers and experienced players in this market. This summer in the suburban complex "Istrinskaya Riviera" by Honka, located on the shore of the Istrinsky reservoir, houses were sold at a dollar rate of 36.6 rubles. "As a result, a house with a total area of ​​300 sq.m in a club settlement with access to a large body of water could be purchased for 30 million rubles," says Anastasia Fetisova, adding that this offer was very popular with buyers, and at present almost all houses in the settlement have been sold.

The largest developer of luxury suburban housing, Villagio Estate, currently offers special prices for a range of ready-made houses in the "Renaissance Park" settlement. "The minimum cost of a mansion under the promotion is 50 million rubles: this is a villa in the Mediterranean style with an area of ​​400 sq.m on a 19-acre plot," says Anton Gololobov, the company's marketing director. The normal price for such an offer starts at 70 million rubles - both in "Renaissance Park" and in other projects of the developer. It is still too early to talk about the results, but profitable promotions always become catalysts for buyer interest, notes an expert.

Sergey Kolosnitsyn disagrees: "Although sometimes a promotion allows you to collect deferred demand in a settlement where many showings take place and realize it in a short time, artificial stimulation of sales inevitably leads to a period of" fishing". He adds that a high-quality and in-demand settlement with reasonable prices does not need demand stimulation at all, and gives as an example the settlement "Ilinka", where at the beginning of the month the prices were increased by 10%. "A bad product will not be helped by a promotion," the expert believes.

There are few competitors, it's time to start

With each passing year, the number of new projects in both the high-end and budget segments is decreasing. Meanwhile, many experts see another reason for the decline in sales: there is a limited supply of truly high-quality options that can meet the demands of today's buyers - and this supply is shrinking every year. It's a paradox: often, 40-50 competing houses are available for one client, and these are by no means the properties he would like to consider.

"The market is oversaturated with objects of questionable quality or overpriced," shares observations Evgenia Panova, head of the country real estate department at Vesco Realty. "Clients have long been dissatisfied with morally outdated architecture of the 90s and early 2000s, and new development lacks price flexibility and a sense of livability and coziness. Many want to move into a ready-made house with quality designer finishes and well-thought-out layouts, and are willing to pay for it."

A correspondent from "Doma" asked developers if they are planning to introduce new projects to the market. Only two gave an affirmative answer. "In the next three months, we are preparing to launch two new projects," says Boris Tsyrkin, Managing Partner of Kaskad Family. "We won't disclose all the details yet, but we know for sure that both will be in a low-rise format and fully meet our concept of creating residential properties with low density development." He clarifies that the total area of ​​these two settlements will be about 150,000 sq.m. The company hopes to present two more projects to the market next year.

Dmitry Gordov, CEO of Landwerk, plans to bring four plots to the market in the coming months. Currently, negotiations