“There is room to fall” – a Sevastopol realtor on the flight of mainland buyers
With the start of a special military operation, real estate in Crimea ceased to interest buyers from the mainland. Now transactions in the primary and secondary markets are carried out by residents of the peninsula.
Natalia Massalskaya, director of one of Sevastopol's real estate agencies, announced this on air at ForPost, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“The military operation clearly has an impact on the real estate market, because our consumer demand has shifted towards local buyers. Those who have preferential mortgages, certificates, maternity capital - that is, they are local buyers,” the expert emphasized. - The one who planned to sell, turn his meters into money, he does it. But many sellers froze because they decided to wait and see what would happen in the spring. And in the spring they will wait until summer.
At the end of the year, of course, there are noticeably more sellers. Now the market has really shifted towards the seller, we have fewer buyers, I repeat, because we do not have mainland buyers.”
The number of properties offered for sale has increased by an average of 30% in Crimea. Few people want to say goodbye to their apartment on the peninsula, in the hope that, if not this summer, then next summer, air service will be operational and they will be able to come on vacation. According to Massalskaya, many residents of the Russian Federation bought real estate for recreation and for the health of children in the summer.
“I want to say that in Crimea and Sevastopol nothing urgent can be sold right now, well, it’s not for sale, mark it or don’t mark it, nothing urgent will happen. Therefore, you should not react to these notes, that is, in fact, there are no urgent sales that the buyer dreams of in order to find an urgent sale at a low price. But there is agreement. For example, an apartment is sold for 5 million rubles, but the buyer only has 4 million.
We say, let’s make an offer to the seller, maybe you can add a mortgage, we’ll pick it up, we’ll pick it up and the deal will come out,” the expert noted. “Money can depreciate, of course, and many people then lose it, they worry very much, they don’t want to keep their money.”
According to the director of the real estate agency, until June, prices on the secondary real estate market continued to grow by inertia by approximately 1,5% per month. In the summer there was a reversal and prices went down with the same dynamics. At the end of the year, on average, the cost of real estate increased by 4%.
“And we have room to fall,” Massalskaya is sure. – After all, last year our prices increased by 45% per year, we increased by 4% per month. Now our demand has changed towards the local buyer, so there is no such increase in prices. And even in some cases there is a 10% discount on the deal.”
As for new buildings, the price is stable. This is due to the fact that, firstly, there are not many of them in the city, and secondly, recipients of preferential mortgages and maternity capital invest in new buildings.
“I can tell you from the example of the Porto Franco complex, where one-room apartments of 32 meters cost from 5 million rubles. Moreover, the apartments are still under construction and will be delivered in 2025; two-room apartments of about 70 meters cost from 6 million. All without finishing, and they are taken because the program with state support leaves the market and becomes 8% per annum.
Therefore, developers do not lower prices for new buildings in Sevastopol. A speculative buyer left the market, who bought from the pit for resale in order to receive 1-1,5 million in plus after the house was completed. Now this is not the case. They buy for their own purposes or in order to use one or another support program.”
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